First Blog

so this is kind of random, but I thought it was funny…it basically makes fun of the eharmony and match.com commericals.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dHi-ZcvFV_0

“the Web does not yet meet its design goal as being a pool of knowledge that is as easy to update as to read”

since the article was written in 1994 i believe it makes sense that this is semi-true. It also shows how far and fast the WWW has come over the years. The Web, in my opinion, has developed in a giant and never-ending “pool of knowledge.” There are some technical parts involving the WWW which are obviously more difficult to update than others, but overall it has become a system than is accessed very easily. This being the last article in The New Media reader is interesting since I feel it should have been incorporated earlier because many articles could be related to it. I’m really bad at understanding and comprehending the technical aspects of technology including the WWW so some of the reading was a little more difficult than others. Overall, this class has opened my eyes to technology as a whole and its impact on our societies. At first this class wasnt exactly what I expected, but I have been pleasently surprised and really enjoyed it.

so i meant to post this after our class, but got distracted. I had mixed feelings about the video we watchthat students made. Part of my was like wow that was intense/impactful and part of my was like o so what thats their fault. I’m still torn. I thought overall the video was effective in geting across a somber and intense mood, especially with the music and the way it was shot. But going back to my negative feelings about it. I was angry (as someone mentioned in class) about the fact that it seems with issues like not reading to assignments or completing the work it was the students fault so I wasn’t going to feel sorry for them. Trying to connect it to what we have been discussing class and what not, it made me think of the role technology has with those issues. Maybe the addictiveness to technoogy or social networks like facebook and the WWW are to blame. Im not saying that students shouldnt be held responsible and realize time management skills, but its interesting to think about….a little devils advocate.

This reading is similar to that of McLuhan’s addictiveness to television, but right away Turkle makes the distinction that television is something you watch while video games are something you do. As everyone in the class seems to know I am an advocate for the outdoors. However, I do feel that video games are more involving and do require skill which watching television lacks.
The video games today are so detailed and involved it amazes me the amount of skill required to “operate” and play them. I agree with Turkle that there is a sense of addictiveness with video games, but it is definitely not mindless. With the invention of the Wii especially video games have gone onto a whole new level. I’m fond of the Wii because it involves some physical activity and more interaction than just your fingers and eyes. One of the tricky parts with video games is, like Turkle said, when one loses oneself in a simulated world. This can be dangerous when the player becomes more involved in the video game world than interacting with actual humans. Overall, I don’t think video games are evil, I think they should limited and children especially should be monitored with them.