Just Add Water and Blog

Video Games- Good or Bad?

depamp20 — Wed, 07 May 2008 03:27:13 +0000

I thought this article was very interesting, and really made me think about how video games might be related to learning literacy. There are many aspects of literacy and I believe that it is not just about being able to read and write. Literacy can be symbols, images, colors, ect. just like the article talks about. I also never really thought of literacy like this, but as I got more into the article, and actually started to think more about this, I guess video games could be considered as a form of literacy. Technology has become a major tool for thinking and learning skills in today’s world. With video games, a person has to be able to read certain things, listen to what is going on, and has to understand what is going on in the game. To me, this is a form of literacy in that all of these things a person has to do in video games makes them literate. In video games people have to be able to understand what is going on and what is expected of them. They have to know how to read directions and instructions that are being given to them. They have to know how to read numbers in order to see maybe how many points they have, or how many they need. Children have to know how to read codes if they are given them in the game. These codes they have to read can help them learn how to navigate the controller or just how to play the game right. I do think that video games can be educational and can help a child to learn different parts of the world or culture in some aspects of a video game. There are many different forms of literacy all over and I think it is just how you look at something to be able to say if it is a form of literacy or not. I think you could classify video games as literacy and I think it is just a different way and form of literacy.

Are kids different because of digital media?

depamp20 — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:19:39 +0000

Future of television and the Web

depamp20 — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:05:54 +0000

This site that I found was pretty interesting on how television is now coming about more and more online. Major studios today are trying to attract more online video viewers too instead of just the television viewers. It makes it scary to think that the Internet could possibly one day replace the television completely. The Internet looks like it could replace a lot of things in the near future.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/01/tv.future/index.html#cnnSTCText

Emails of Acceptance

depamp20 — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:41:52 +0000

I read in the AC press today about email letting students find out if they are accepted into the college they’re trying to get into. A lot of students felt that they were being “robbed” of their “big envelope” moment. I thought this was pretty interesting, and this is what a lot of colleges are doing now instead of sending the acceptance letters by mail. I myself liked getting my piece of paper saying if I was accepted or not. The article goes on to say how technology today is playing a big part in the colleges way of doing things. Almost everything for colleges now can be done on line, such as applying or even enrolling. More and more universities are going on the Web, and using it for everything. One part I read said how one college had an admission fee of $45 for paper application, while if applied on line it was free. Schools now feel that they can make that acceptance moment even better by using technology, and are trying to get more involved with the students by the way most students communicate. At one university the email that was created for the acceptance letter was actually done by a student from the university.

I think in the way Rowan communicates with the students is mostly done by email for most assignments in class, whether its lectures, homework, notes, syllabus etc. A lot of college students think it is best for colleges to take advantage of the technology. I also agree with this but when I read this article I agree with some of the students that getting that piece of paper is just different than an email. I think it is more exciting and means more. I like this tradition but I think as time goes on after a while almost all schools will probably send out acceptance letters by email.

Video Blogging

bloomj85 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:12:54 +0000

Vlogging = Video Blogging. Is this a good idea? Recently, I have been hearing a lot of people talk about how facebook pages and myspace pages should be deleted if they are trying to find a job. I do not think people should be judged on how they run their personal lives as long as they can be professional when they are at their jobs. My guess is that video blogging is just as bad as facebook and myspace. I was looking at several vlogs and some of them were a little scandalous. In my opinion, video blogging is more personal than facebook, and people who do blog on video should be careful if they are planning on getting a job. Now, my only concern is whether or not I should delete my facebook page before I apply for a job. Does every school district check if their future employees have a facebook or myspace account? People’s personal lives should stay personal and not interfere with their work lives. This module has just showed me how careful people must be when they put anything on the internet.

Vlogging

bloomj85 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:48:36 +0000

Is Playing Video Games a “Waste of Time?”

burnsk98 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:41:17 +0000

I thought the article, “Is Playing Video Games A “Waste of time?” very interesting. I actually never thought that when people were playing games “they are learning new literacy”. Literacy is the ability to read and write. But, the article describes how literacy should be thought of more broadly. “First, language is not the only important communicational system. Images, symbols, graphs, diagrams, artifacts, and many other visual symbols are significant, more so today than ever.” I know this is very true, but when I immediately think of literacy I only think of print. However, I know there are many different meanings of literacy because of the college course Literacy in Today’s World. But, we actually never touched base on video games being a part of the term.
The quotation that makes me believe that playing video games may not be a waste of time is, “Because literacy requires more than being able to “decode” (words or images for instance) and because it requires people to be able to participate in—or at least understand—certain sorts of social practices, we need to focus on not just “codes” or “representations” (like language, equations, images, and so forth) but the domains in which these codes or representations are used as well.” I do understand the definition does work for video games in the semiotic domain. But in the sense of wasting time in a video game, it does take up a lot of time because the games are addicting. But to make parents feel better about their children playing video games all the time, this is a good view to look at their game.

Just because Facebook is always spoken of…

burnsk98 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:23:23 +0000

When I logged onto Facebook last night for the first time this week I found it was interesting to see many more applications added to the website to keep people interested in the site. I did not have time to search around and see what applications were offered but one application that I noticed right away was a toolbar added to my page for further communication.

People are now able to know exactly which one of their friends is signed onto Facebook and can do something such as instant messaging- but now it’s through Facebook. It is exactly like AIM but it is when a person is logged onto their account. I went onto Google.com and typed in “Facebook’s new application” and tons of websites came up in regards to the topic.

Here is one website that describes the many new applications. I noticed that most of the applications are websites that are also available on Netvibes.

http://mashable.com/2007/05/24/facebook-platform-30-apps/

Understanding Comics

bloomj85 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:52:19 +0000

Scott McLoud’s “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” was quite interesting. Not only was it written in comic form, it brought up many good points about the simplicity of comic-like writings. Also, I concluded from the article how juxtaposing text with pictures is most successful when the pictures are straightforward and not too detailed. According to McLoud, “The more cartoony a face is, the more people it could be said to describe.” This is probably the reason why cartoon characters are so appealing because more people can relate to them. Another interesting aspect the article brought up was how the audience relates with the messenger of information. The author, or in this case, the character relaying the message in this article is so simple in style. Then, in a following image, the author portrays himself more detailed and shaded to look like an actual man. McLoud asks the question, “Would you have listened to me if I looked like this?” I thought this was a very interesting concept. I don’t think I would have taken as much away from the article if the messenger looked more like a real-life man. I wonder why this is.

Videogames in the Classroom:

riggit18 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:48:00 +0000

I found this article that touched on the issue of videogames and education. The author of this article makes an argument that videogames should be incorporated into the classroom:

http://www.news.wisc.edu/9333