Wynn's Blog

Nov 15 Entry: Violent Media is Good For Kids

2004-11-14T23:42:00.000-08:00

So I just wrote this really long blog in response to Gerard Jones’ article, but there’s something wrong with blogspot.com right now and I just lost all of what I wrote and now I’ve lost a lot of motivation to write anything. But I will try and get the gist of what I wrote, although excuse me if I sound somewhat bitter.

Jones’ argument is “that bloody videogames, gun-glorifying gangsta rap and other forms of 'creative violence' help far more children than they hurt, by giving kids a tool to master their rage.” I don’t know how much I agree with this. I understand that violent video games and wild heroic fantasy stories with lots of blood and killing allow children to express emotions they might be told to keep to a minimum by their parents, but I feel that maybe kids will become too dependent on these fantasy worlds to feel emotion at all. I agree that kids need to have an imagination in order to even survive as a child in school and among peers, but how is that child going to know when to stop pretending if they become too dependent on these games to have fun. When does he interact with people his own if he/she is constantly in front of a computer or video screen? It may be the case that “gangsta rap” is a creative way for children/teens to channel their anger, but shouldn’t they be taught to deal with it other ways, as well?

Jones’ doesn’t focus on the cases where dependence on this fantasy world has become almost suicidal for some people. How are kids going to learn to interact with their peers and adults when these fantasy worlds are placed in front of them to become a substitute for something to be mad at?

I don’t really agree with the people who believe all video games are bad because they lead to violent tendencies in people. I think there are some bad things kids are exposed to because of video games that they wouldn’t normally be if video games were not available, but it only turns into violent tendencies when there aren’t people around them telling them differently. Parents just need to make sure they are allowing their children to see the real world, and not just the fantasy one in which they want to live.

Thoughts on the Academic Blog

2004-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

I really think that everybody in this class is going to say something different about what they would like to see with the blog aspect of this class. Some may have their own blogs and like to do the blog thing everyday, perhaps commenting each day on what we talked about in class or how far along they are on their research projects. I personally like that way that we do it now, where there is a prompt and we just write our thoughts. It gives us an opportunity to get our ideas out before we come to class. I think that if we were to just be told to blog about anything, I would be really lost. I'd feel like I wouldn't want to write anything because people might read what I was writing. When we were first told that we had to blog I was a little hesitant that people would be able to read my thoughts and ideas (I'd never used a blog before), but then I got used to it because I didn't mind that they were reading my thoughts on the academic part of the class. I'd be a lot more hesitant just to write on something I'd thought about that day. It's nice having an article to read so that we can analyse it and relate it to our own lives.
I've never used blogs as discussion and I'm more of a person who likes to have things right in front of my face and having a conversation or some sort of immediate interaction in order for me to comment on it. I don't feel like I would be interested in blog as discussion, that's probably just another result of me not being very familiar with blogs or using them very often.
I actually do think it might be a good idea to use the blog as a research log. I know that everytime we had to update our research process in forum I realized I needed to do a lot more work. It would motivate me to do more research or really look at the sources I had found so that I could get started on my argument and hypertext. Because I know that someone (Christine) is going to read it, I need to show that I've actually done some work!

Nov 1st Blog Entry: AIMless Addictions

2004-10-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I'm an AIM addict myself. I never really used to use it when I lived at home because I didn't have that many friends who would be on at the same time as me, or I didn't have that many friends who had a screen name. But once I came to college that all changed. Everybody had a screenname. I'd message someone down the hall when I could so easily walk to their room. I'm also a slave to the Away Message. With a constant connection to the internet I'd always try to leave a witty away message up. Mostly because I know how much people read through other peoples' away messages and so I try to make mine stand out, but also because I wanted to let people know where I was or what I was doing (and my feelings about it). When we live at home, we're at home and there's not too much question about how we can be reached or what we're doing. But at school, there are a million things to do and leaving an away message up lets people know what we do but is also a bit like an answering machine. They're leaving a message and also avoiding the possibility that you'll pick up the phone and they'll have to talk to you. I also like to think of it as a way to save minutes on my phone. It's used as another form of email, because you never know when someone is going to check their email again. But, if they're online, they're going to have to eventually read the little message box that's waiting for them on the screen.

I agree with the line "AIM’s become too entrenched in college culture to merely be labeled a social phenomenon." It's true, AIM has helped me out so much in my typing speed. Granted, I do get lazy sometimes and forget that I can't shorten "people" to "ppl" when I'm typing a paper in Word. But it's nice that Word capitalizes my "I"s when I forget to. It has allowed for information to be communicated so much faster. Just the fact that Christine has a SN and we can IM her sometimes and ask her questions about assignments makes help and information so much more readily available. I don't know how educational it is as a procrastinating tool, but I do like that I can say I don't watch that much TV. It's good that we're online talking to people and developing or keeping relationships (although in somewhat of an unreal interaction) rather than not talking to anyone and sitting in front of a television.

I agree with what the "ITSS tests IM for Campus System" article says about how often college students spend time in front of their computer screens. IM is one of the most effective ways to get information directly to a student. The only problem is that a student would have to be online to get the information. Sending an email guarantees that a student has access to the information. Plus, a Stanford student is constantly checking their email. Otherwise, they'd end up with an overloaded mailbox within a week.

I think that the use of IM has revolutionized communication between people just in the fact that adults are now using it. I know a lot of kids who talk to their parents online. Seems like parents have finally figured out how they can reach their kids, too.

Oct 18th Blog Entry - Powerpoint is Evil

2004-10-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Powerpoint is definitely not evil. I think Edward Tufte was a little too harsh on it. I believe Powerpoint has a lot of helpful uses that Tufte overlooks in his article. I agree that there are going to be times when a Powerpoint presentation would be completely out of place--such as if Stalin were to stand up in front of his troops and use bullets points to explain what they were going to do (as the illustration shows in his article). But not every situation is like that.

Tufte writes, "Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials." I disagree with this statement because I don't think that Powerpoint has replaced the writing of essays, but it has been implemented into the curriculum in order to augment the learning process for students. Many jobs that children will have in the future will not require them to write essays, but will require them to have people skills and be able to convince people of certain things, such as in interviews or interaction with customers or coworkers. I remember learning to use Powerpoint in middle school and thinking how cool it was to have such an amazing tool that would help me remember what to say. As a consequence of thinking this, I would proceed to put everything I wanted to say into a bullet point on a slide and read off of it for my presentation. Obviously I've learned from my mistakes and I think that is what the use of Powerpoint has done. Teaching it in schools allows kids to sift through their information and formulate a good presentation, one which does not bore their listeners because they have something that helps them visualize what the speaker is saying.

In addition, I think Powerpoints are really helpful for a lecturer who is lecturing to a big class. I know I really like it when a lecturer uses a Powerpoint because a lot of the time I get to see images or graphs that help me understand things better. I feel like presentations flow very easily with a Powerpoint because everything is thought out before hand and each slide leads to the next. At the end of his article Tufte writes, "The PowerPoint style routinely disrupts, dominates, and trivializes content." If a person gets carried away with the sounds or animation features then, yes, it can be somewhat distracting. But I think that, if used in the right way, a Powerpoint slideshow does not disrupt the content, nor does it dominate.

October 11th Blog Entry - Blog Interrupted

2004-10-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Jessica Cutler's story in the Washington Post article "Blog Interrupted" reminded me a lot of Monica Lewinsky's story. She never thought anyone was going to know, never imagined that things would get as big as they did. Yet Monica Lewinsky became the butt of a new wave of political jokes about Bill Clinton and her face became more familiar than those of many prominent Hollywood actors. Cutler has a similar story in that she started an online journal documenting her frequent sex romps with numerous men and after two weeks found a link to her blog posted on the front page of a site for everyone to see and read. Her coworkers were not happy. In the case of Monica Lewinsky, it was just an unfortunate situation. She never knew that any of what she did would get out to the public. Cutler, on the other hand, was writing an ONLINE journal -- "online" implying that anyone could read it: and would. She didn't think that it would get back to her coworkers or any of her sexual partners, but the spread of her blog just goes to show how no one can escape the eyes of internet users. Blogs are so permanent, I don't understand how anyone would choose to document such incriminating acts. I feel like some part of her knew that it could get out, and maybe that's what excited her about writing the entries. The owner of Wonkette, the sight to which a link to Cutler's blog was posted, said ""I suppose it's possible that Jessica is some kind of a publicity genius and engineered the entire thing without my knowing," suggesting that publicizing her blog had been Jessica's plan all along. Despite losing her job, her boyfriend, and her complexion, Cutler believes, "Everyone should have a blog, it's the most democratic thing ever." Right now she has a book deal and a Playboy shoot under her belt and continues to enjoy the luxury of being famous. If I were going to get money and become famous for having a blog, I'd do it, too.

For some people, a blog doesn't get you fame and money. It brings you hurt and loss of friends. The article mentioned a woman, Heather Armstrong, who had been writing in her blog about drinking and sex: a taboo within the Mormon community. Armstrong says, "I tell people, whoever you think is not going to read your Web site will find your Web site. They specifically will find it and read it, and all hell will break loose." I definitely agree with this statement. As a person who has never has a blog before, I don't really see the greatness of them. But then, I'm not an aspiring author and personally don't care for other people reading about my life. If I want to let my friends know about my personal life, I'll call them and tell them. I have a friend who wrote in her Xanga entry about how she was drinking with her sorority (something they weren't supposed to be doing, technically). Someone (a girl with a grudge) found my friend's Xanga and turned it in to the sorority authorities and got my friend's sorority in a lot of trouble. A story such as this makes me hesitant to put anything on the internet.

Research Ideas

2004-10-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

I really don't have a very good idea of what I want to do my research paper on. I was considering doing something with Instant Messenger but I feel like that's been overdone, especially since someone won the Booth Prize for it the other year. I don't think I could ever compare to that. Right now I think I'm choosing between two different topics: one being the growth of text messaging among youth and the other being online shopping addiction.

For the first topic I think I was going to focus on the convenience of text messaging as a mode of communication which is simple, cheap, and relieves many people of the stress of personal interaction. I believe it's a mode of communication that has developed because of things like AOL Instant Messenger and has become popular as an alternative to actual calls on the phone. I know a lot of people who have hour-long text message "conversations" when they could easily have dialed the number and called the person. This, to me, is an indication of how some people like to utilize the convenience of not having to know what to say right away and avoid the effort of small talk or even avoid using the precious minutes of the phone plan. Text messaging has become an easy way to send notes in class, as evidenced by this article from the Charleston Daily Mail or even receive information about weather or sports scores. I think it's interesting how much the use of it has grown in the past couple years as more and more people, especially younger, have discovered its advantages and conviences.

The other topic I was interested in, and I think am leaning towards more than the other, is the addiction to online shopping. Living in a house with all girls this year I know how addictive online shopping can be for some people and I know people who do it all the time. I'd be interested in studying the techniques online shopping websites use to lure their costumers in and convince to buy their products. I would be interested in looking at things such as eBay, where it is an online auction, and credit card info that can be saved to make shopping quicker and easier to deal with. I found an article that I thought was interesting where 2 groups of students from different schools, each school having very different uses of internet, were asked what they thought of online shopping. The survey came up with some very interesting results. There are a lot of articles on "internet addiction" and I was tempted to do that, but I feel like online shopping is a whole different sort of addiction than just searching the Web and combines 2 different types of addictions and creates an completely new one. I was interested in possibly doing a survey among a group of girls and then one among a group of guys to get different perspectives on internet shopping. If I look at websites like eBay and Amazon.com and analyze their different features I feel like I'd be able to learn a lot.