I have just finished my neovox essay and I truely believe I have written a really good essay this time. I believe that the issues and points I have written about are important to people our age and of other ages. I think it really pertains to the audience that will be viewing my article.
At first I wanted to write about the privacy on online profiles, but then I realized why not write about privacy in general with the internet! For instance, how many people do their shopping online now? Cyberspace has become a very important aspect of peoples lives now and I think that it is importnat that people not online think about how easy using this new technology is, but also be careful to still protect our privacy.
I worked really hard on this essay to make it something that would important and information to those who view it. Take a look, I hope everyone can give me some input.... ENJOY thanks! :)
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Ideas for Neovox Essay
I have been thinking a lot about what I wanted to write for my neovox essay. On my last essay I wrote about taking an online class which was meaningful to me. I also wrote my essay on that because I thought it would be something that would be meaningful to others as well. Thats what I also planned to do for the second article.
I was trying to think about college students and what aspect of technology is common today. Then I came to the conclusion about writing on facebook, myspace and online profiles. I know many times problems can arise in dealing with how much are people exposing them and the problems with the amounts of privacy you get within them.
I think that this is a great topic to talk about and I know that it would be useful information as well as information that will be interesting to the viewers on neovox. Myspace especially has been known for preditors that have even proven guilty as well people putting inappropriate pictures up for anyone to see at any age. Although facebook is more private and controlled that myspace, there is still some privacy issues at hand.
Im excited to get started and write this! :)
I was trying to think about college students and what aspect of technology is common today. Then I came to the conclusion about writing on facebook, myspace and online profiles. I know many times problems can arise in dealing with how much are people exposing them and the problems with the amounts of privacy you get within them.
I think that this is a great topic to talk about and I know that it would be useful information as well as information that will be interesting to the viewers on neovox. Myspace especially has been known for preditors that have even proven guilty as well people putting inappropriate pictures up for anyone to see at any age. Although facebook is more private and controlled that myspace, there is still some privacy issues at hand.
Im excited to get started and write this! :)
Reader Responce 10
What I like most about this book is how Dibbell takes us through the experience so we can almost ourselves be part of the experience. I find this virual world of business to be very interesting and enjoy reading about his time going through it. I think the concept of this book is simply mind boggling and unbelievable to imagine that this man could be making the money he is making in the virtual world.
"Live from the Acalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, Califonia, I'm wishing you and yours a prosperous new year--more prsperous, at any rate, than the one I just completed, which closes with a whopping $3, 131.42 in profit accrued from my dealing in virtual items." This quote stuck out to me because I think it makes his life seem pretty tempting don't ya think? If you truely think about the concept of dealing in virtual items over $3,000 is a huge accomplishment.
In chapter 37, Dibbell talks us through the near ending of his experience. "You will see that in their strictest sense, I have already failed. The income-tax return I file in April will of course pertain only to money made in 2003, and as I've already reported, my profits fromt he sale of imaginary items last year amounted to a measly $3, 131.42, or a little more than 6 perfect of my income." I still think that the amount that he has been making is still a high number especially since he is selling imaginary items! Who wouldn't want to do this on the side of another job, when your making a decent amount of money as Dibbell did. Althought he knew he wasn't going to be successful he kept up with his mission.
I have not yet finished the book, but am almost there and I believe that although Dibbell wasn't successful in beating his earnings as a writer he was still successful in making money of "virtual loot." It is amazing that this worked and he did in fact make money off this idea. I think this book is something that people should read in the sense that it shows us, how much technology and the internet affects the world that we are in today. Technology is becoming a huge part of our lives not only the play world, but in the working world as well.
"Live from the Acalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, Califonia, I'm wishing you and yours a prosperous new year--more prsperous, at any rate, than the one I just completed, which closes with a whopping $3, 131.42 in profit accrued from my dealing in virtual items." This quote stuck out to me because I think it makes his life seem pretty tempting don't ya think? If you truely think about the concept of dealing in virtual items over $3,000 is a huge accomplishment.
In chapter 37, Dibbell talks us through the near ending of his experience. "You will see that in their strictest sense, I have already failed. The income-tax return I file in April will of course pertain only to money made in 2003, and as I've already reported, my profits fromt he sale of imaginary items last year amounted to a measly $3, 131.42, or a little more than 6 perfect of my income." I still think that the amount that he has been making is still a high number especially since he is selling imaginary items! Who wouldn't want to do this on the side of another job, when your making a decent amount of money as Dibbell did. Althought he knew he wasn't going to be successful he kept up with his mission.
I have not yet finished the book, but am almost there and I believe that although Dibbell wasn't successful in beating his earnings as a writer he was still successful in making money of "virtual loot." It is amazing that this worked and he did in fact make money off this idea. I think this book is something that people should read in the sense that it shows us, how much technology and the internet affects the world that we are in today. Technology is becoming a huge part of our lives not only the play world, but in the working world as well.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Short Video
The short video was a good experience for me. I think it is a great opportunity to see how everyone in the class can be "imaginative" and see all the different videos that people come up with. For my group we came up with a lot of good ideas, but it was hard to find one that would actually be able to work and fit with the materials we had. Our idea that was personally my favorite was one that we could not do. We wanted to see how an older person would work with our technology and vice versa. Our problem with this is, we couldn't find an object such as a typewriter or older phone that we could use for someone in our generation. Also we didn't want to approach someone we didn't know that was older with our technology such as an ipod and make fun of them on video. We didn't believe that it would really be appropriate.
I think that our idea overall was a good one. Myself as well as Jessica Weise had the job of making the video and of course getting stuck on camera, while the boys helped come up with the idea and had the job of editing it. This process took us a while to accomplish, even though we had our plan and were ready to start right from the beginning. We had went to the library and all the cameras were out so I had to put my name down to get the next available camera and the library has yet to call me back and its about two weeks later! Jessica had to go home over one weekend and get her families own video camera for us to use. We had later ran into the problem that the boys didnt know how to edit this video with the type of tape we used! Hopefully the finishing touches will come out as great as I hope they will!!!
Overall this was a fun and creative experience! :)
I think that our idea overall was a good one. Myself as well as Jessica Weise had the job of making the video and of course getting stuck on camera, while the boys helped come up with the idea and had the job of editing it. This process took us a while to accomplish, even though we had our plan and were ready to start right from the beginning. We had went to the library and all the cameras were out so I had to put my name down to get the next available camera and the library has yet to call me back and its about two weeks later! Jessica had to go home over one weekend and get her families own video camera for us to use. We had later ran into the problem that the boys didnt know how to edit this video with the type of tape we used! Hopefully the finishing touches will come out as great as I hope they will!!!
Overall this was a fun and creative experience! :)
Reader Responce 9
“Personally, I’m convinced historians of technology will one day recognize no essential difference between the ancient board game and then modern computer.” I found this quote in Dibbell’s novel Play Money, to be very interesting. Right now the modern computer is in hype and most games and entertainment arrive from this system of technology. Board games seem to be so old fashion and not nearly as advanced as the computer. Dibbell is right though; look how much and fast technology has grown from there and the time for this transformation has not been that long. I found this quote interesting, because it really makes you wonder exactly how far technology can take us, and what new form of “games” we will be brought to.
“In a sense Adventure was a metaphor for computer programming itself.” Dibbell here was talking about Steven Levy and his explanation of Hacker. If you think about it, everything involving computer programming is combined with some sort of adventure. Many of these virtual worlds and games are filled with adventure and that’s what makes them so attractive to people. We as humans have a great need for excitement and adventure and that’s what computer programming brings to us. We are able to test or limits and be adventurous in ways that we could no do in our real lives.
Dibbell also goes over the word “cyberspace” which we have heard much of throughout our course and is substantially what our course is about. Dibbell describes cyberspace as “the name a generation of mid-1990s Internet virgins gave to the alternate dimension they couldn’t help sensing they stepped into every time they went online.” An example of this cyberspace is shown in both the novels, Snow Crash and Neuromancer. Gibson’s cyberspace in Neuromancer is described as a dark, sleek “consensual hallucination.” In Snow Crash which we had read in our class, hackers had created the virtual world of the Metaverse that I think could also be described as this “consensual hallucination.”
“In a sense Adventure was a metaphor for computer programming itself.” Dibbell here was talking about Steven Levy and his explanation of Hacker. If you think about it, everything involving computer programming is combined with some sort of adventure. Many of these virtual worlds and games are filled with adventure and that’s what makes them so attractive to people. We as humans have a great need for excitement and adventure and that’s what computer programming brings to us. We are able to test or limits and be adventurous in ways that we could no do in our real lives.
Dibbell also goes over the word “cyberspace” which we have heard much of throughout our course and is substantially what our course is about. Dibbell describes cyberspace as “the name a generation of mid-1990s Internet virgins gave to the alternate dimension they couldn’t help sensing they stepped into every time they went online.” An example of this cyberspace is shown in both the novels, Snow Crash and Neuromancer. Gibson’s cyberspace in Neuromancer is described as a dark, sleek “consensual hallucination.” In Snow Crash which we had read in our class, hackers had created the virtual world of the Metaverse that I think could also be described as this “consensual hallucination.”
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Second Life
I finally went to sign up today for second life. I don't really know much about it, but I know it something that maybe I would enjoy. I don't really engage in it anymore, but when I was younger I was really into the SIMS and I feel like second life is a step up from that technology. I haven't got to play the second life yet because when I went to start up the game, a notice came up saying that the system had crashed! My great luck I have. When I first went to sign up it ask me to pick what I want my character to look like. It only gave about 8 or 10 choices and I found the choices to be strange as well. There were a few boys and girls that you can choose from and then they had peoples bodies with animal faces! I found that to be really strange! After I picked what I wanted myself to look like I had to choose a name for myself in the second life world. You can tell that there are a lot of people in this second life world because I had to kept choosing names over and over because people already had the names I chose. Finally I came up with the first name JAM14(which is my initials and my lucky number) and I had chosen their last name of Matova which was just chosen at random. When I first went to go log in of course I had forgotten the password I chose, so I had to keep trying different things until finally I realized that we are supposed to put our second life name into the system and not our real name. Real Smart, I know! ha. After all of that and trying to get in, the system crashes and I don't get to try the game. I will keep trying and let everyone know how it turns out! :)
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Reader Responce 8
Dibbell took my interest because he starts out the book talking about a video game that he plays. I’m not exactly sure what it is called, but by the way he is talking I would have to believe it may be lizards. He talks himself through the game and enables us to capture the sense of the game and what he is doing. The point of the game was that he was competing against other lizard men to find gold and cash it in for money. He described the feeling he got when he was able to beat out the other men, instead of himself getting destroyed.
“I knew the lizard men were only computer programs, but they had killed me often enough when I was just starting out that I still felt a tiny thrill of revenge watching them die.” Dibbell in this quote shows us how important and competitive these games can become to people. I am not a big video game player, but I could never see myself feeling the way Dibbell does in the quote just presented.
“A window had opened into the magnetic core of the game, and I could see more clearly than ever what kept me and all the other players coming back: It was the same thing, more or less, that kept most of us going to our jobs each day, or going to school. It was desire not to fair to the bottom of the social food chain, a desire to rise through the ranks, to achieve and acquire as a way of marking our status within the massive monkey troop that is human civilization. To own and not be owned.”
I think in that last quote Dibbell makes some great points. These video games give people the chance to press their limits and see how far they can go in a challenge. I believe this is one of the main reasons that people engage in video games. It’s hard to believe that a technology such as video games can consume someone’s life as much as they do. I know many people that easily spend more than six hours a day on video games. I believe that video games have become more than a game in many cases it has become a sport and/or even a career.
“The twenty hours a week I was devoting to the game were no big deal compared to the sixty, seventy, and even eighty hours some players put in.” It is scary to think that people can actually sit and be engaged for something so long. I know that when I was younger and was into SEGA and super Nintendo it was hard to put them down, but for me after a while I got bored of them. I know now in my life, I wouldn’t have time to even play video games for an hour. How do people have the time in their lives, especially with school or work, to be engaged for so long. I found this chapter very interesting and a great introduction to the book. It has left me wanting to read more.
“I knew the lizard men were only computer programs, but they had killed me often enough when I was just starting out that I still felt a tiny thrill of revenge watching them die.” Dibbell in this quote shows us how important and competitive these games can become to people. I am not a big video game player, but I could never see myself feeling the way Dibbell does in the quote just presented.
“A window had opened into the magnetic core of the game, and I could see more clearly than ever what kept me and all the other players coming back: It was the same thing, more or less, that kept most of us going to our jobs each day, or going to school. It was desire not to fair to the bottom of the social food chain, a desire to rise through the ranks, to achieve and acquire as a way of marking our status within the massive monkey troop that is human civilization. To own and not be owned.”
I think in that last quote Dibbell makes some great points. These video games give people the chance to press their limits and see how far they can go in a challenge. I believe this is one of the main reasons that people engage in video games. It’s hard to believe that a technology such as video games can consume someone’s life as much as they do. I know many people that easily spend more than six hours a day on video games. I believe that video games have become more than a game in many cases it has become a sport and/or even a career.
“The twenty hours a week I was devoting to the game were no big deal compared to the sixty, seventy, and even eighty hours some players put in.” It is scary to think that people can actually sit and be engaged for something so long. I know that when I was younger and was into SEGA and super Nintendo it was hard to put them down, but for me after a while I got bored of them. I know now in my life, I wouldn’t have time to even play video games for an hour. How do people have the time in their lives, especially with school or work, to be engaged for so long. I found this chapter very interesting and a great introduction to the book. It has left me wanting to read more.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Experiencing Podcast 3
Podcasting is something before this class that I had never before heard of. When we had done the first podcast I didn't think it was really something that I would come to like or enjoy doing. I thought it would be difficult and I would be scared and embarressed doing it with people that I do not know. I am very shy with people I don't know especially while doing a discussion. Doing these podcasts have turned out to be a great experience for me.
We just finished our third podcast and I believe it went really well. I have come to know everyone in my group and we have a great time while doing it. While reading the books you know how you, yourself, feel about it, but you dont get the chance to see how others feel about it. Doing a group podcast gives you this chance. You are able to express your feelings about the class and the book that we are reading and see how others feel about it as well. I greatly enjoy my group because normally we all have different view points, so we get a lot out of our discussion.
Being that this is the third podcast we have done, I know feel more comfortable doing it. I feel prepared in what is expected, as well as, what points I would want to bring about. I think this podcast was also good because we all felt very differently about what parts of the book we liked the most and also arguements for those parts. We are all comfortable discussing these topics with each other as well as just being comfortable with each other in general.
I am also looking forward to the fourth podcast because we will be able to discuss the class from beginning to end and how it influenced us and what we have learned from it. I know myself, I have a lot to say about this course. I truely believe it was a great course by the way it was structured, as well as, the content.
We just finished our third podcast and I believe it went really well. I have come to know everyone in my group and we have a great time while doing it. While reading the books you know how you, yourself, feel about it, but you dont get the chance to see how others feel about it. Doing a group podcast gives you this chance. You are able to express your feelings about the class and the book that we are reading and see how others feel about it as well. I greatly enjoy my group because normally we all have different view points, so we get a lot out of our discussion.
Being that this is the third podcast we have done, I know feel more comfortable doing it. I feel prepared in what is expected, as well as, what points I would want to bring about. I think this podcast was also good because we all felt very differently about what parts of the book we liked the most and also arguements for those parts. We are all comfortable discussing these topics with each other as well as just being comfortable with each other in general.
I am also looking forward to the fourth podcast because we will be able to discuss the class from beginning to end and how it influenced us and what we have learned from it. I know myself, I have a lot to say about this course. I truely believe it was a great course by the way it was structured, as well as, the content.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Reader Responce 7
I had always thought of empathy as sympathy, which is feeling bad for someone. Pink describes in his chapter on empathy that this is a common mistake that is false. Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else's position and to intuit what that person is feeling. I believe that empathy is an important quality to have and I believe it is a quality that I, in fact, do possess. Without empathy it would be difficult to understand much of what is going on around you.
With empathy, you may be able to discover things that you would not orignally believe in or believe to be true. Sometimes things that can important or life-saving. Pink shows us an example of this, where empathy acts as "a whole new health care." Two postal workers went to various health care centers with similar symptoms and believing they were infected with anthrax. One patient, was sent home and told to take tylonal because anthrax wasn't a threat to him. The other patient told his dcotor about his anthrax scare and the doctor didn't hesitate to schedule another test. She ordered the patient antibiotics and made him stay in the hospital overnight. This doctors sense of empathyh ad saved this persons life.
Another aspect of empathy that interested me was comparing men and woman in empathy. When I first read the title without reading beyond, I figured that woman were more empathetic and I was right! As Simon Baron-Cohen states in his book The Essential Difference, "The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy. The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems." This is most likely why woman are more prone to crying and feeling distressed at another's distress.
I think that Pink points out really good points about the importance and aspects of empathy. It made me see many different ways that empathy can affect us as well as others. I think for someone who may not be as empathic, after reading this chapter, especially "a whole new health care," will be more open to it.
With empathy, you may be able to discover things that you would not orignally believe in or believe to be true. Sometimes things that can important or life-saving. Pink shows us an example of this, where empathy acts as "a whole new health care." Two postal workers went to various health care centers with similar symptoms and believing they were infected with anthrax. One patient, was sent home and told to take tylonal because anthrax wasn't a threat to him. The other patient told his dcotor about his anthrax scare and the doctor didn't hesitate to schedule another test. She ordered the patient antibiotics and made him stay in the hospital overnight. This doctors sense of empathyh ad saved this persons life.
Another aspect of empathy that interested me was comparing men and woman in empathy. When I first read the title without reading beyond, I figured that woman were more empathetic and I was right! As Simon Baron-Cohen states in his book The Essential Difference, "The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy. The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems." This is most likely why woman are more prone to crying and feeling distressed at another's distress.
I think that Pink points out really good points about the importance and aspects of empathy. It made me see many different ways that empathy can affect us as well as others. I think for someone who may not be as empathic, after reading this chapter, especially "a whole new health care," will be more open to it.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
An experience with "Story"
After reading about the Six Sences, especially about story, in Pinks book I was able to get a better understanding of how much they are involved in society today. I was in my class the other day. My teacher had given the class a commen topic and we broke up into groups and had to discuss and debate on that topic. I came to realize how many different points and stories every individual could come up with. Not only that, but also how competitive it is to know the most out of everyone. When one person would make a point, there would always be someone else there to either make your story more substantial or completely rebut your point. Information and data isn't good anymore unless you can make something out of it. I believe that in some ways this is making our society more competitive, as well as allowing people to better express and expand themselves. This book is allowing me to really understand what is going on around me and understand more of how our society works and how it has changed. Reading this has allowed me to open my eyes, as in this example.
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