Young Children Benefit from Playing Computer Games
Children learning to play computer games and children playing computer games are learning a new literacy and new ways of thinking (Gee, 2003). So while a child is playing they are learning. I am talking about children as young as two to twelve years old. Children are actively learning and critically learning by exploratory and playful learning also stimulating their imaginations and social skills. By treating the learning process as an exploratory arena, play is enhanced as education. Children will actively learn by exploring, playful learning (Rodriguez, H 2006). For a child to play a computer game, firstly the child needs to adjust their behaviour according the rules, establishing limits of the game by cognitively responding to and learning from the game material, and interacts with the game strategies to bring together and reflect upon game elements which give the child an understanding of the game concepts (Walther, 2003).
Children playing computer games are extending their learning content, learning visual literacy encompassing images, symbols, graphs, diagrams, artifacts and many other significant visual symbols, along with traditional text. Children learn to recognize sounds, music, movement, body sensations giving children multiple exposure to different literacy beyond print and images. Exposure to multiple stimuli can mould a child’s cognitive strategies and increase their imagination, as documented in Business Week.
Computer games expand children's imaginations. The director of the Learning Center at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory William D. Winn, told Business Week “High-tech children think differently from the rest of us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It's as though their cognitive strategies were parallel, not sequential."
Imagining fictional worlds are cued by graphics, colours sound inducing mood enhancement is the most obvious in projecting an imagined world, , text for dialogue, as text and audio.. Rules aid children into imagining fictional worlds while, providing challenges for the child to learn and gradually overcome (Juul, 2005). More than any other media, computer games have brought technology into children’s homes, capturing their imagination and engaging them in fantasy worlds.
Learning from games is very powerful in the formative years because children who grow up playing computer games a more social, more loyal to their teams, more sophisticated decision makers than those who did not play computer games in their formative years (Beck, J. C., & Wade, M., 2006). A child who plays computer games in their formative years are exposed to more stimuli and have developed wider cognitive strategies and perspectives to assist them in their decisions and problem solving skills.
Active leaning for children playing computer games, whether unconsciously or not involves understanding and operating within the game, involving experiencing the game world in new ways by situating meanings to elements within the game. By elements I mean the words, images, symbols and forming new affiliations. Experience, affiliations and preparation for future learning are involved in active learning. Engagement with various computer games gives children a wider experience to associate content with meanings.
“Elements in the content of Pikmin for example, a yellow Pikmin do not have just one general meaning of significance in the game world. Learners must learn to situate different meanings for such elements within different domains” (Gee, 2003). For the child to play the game, the child must understand and produce situated meanings in the semiotic domain of the game and games like it. Critical learning for children within a game involves consciously attending, reflecting, critiquing and manipulating within the game.
As the game progresses it increases in difficulty giving the child the opportunity to think differently and problem solve, allowing for critique, new strategies, opportunities for reflection on errors and learning, beginning the process of critical learning and thinking. The learning potential from engaging in computer games for young children involving active learning and critical learning can lead to critique, innovation and good learning practices in engaging in society. Good games and good being the operative word will facilitate active and critical learning and thinking. People around the child, other players and non players, perhaps parents who encourage, reflective thinking and actions will aid that process (Gee, 2003).
Actively and critically learning within a computer game assists the children in growing up and developing their relationship to different cultural worlds, giving them multiple resources and challenges they can use to develop their cognitive, social, and physical skills (Fromme, 2003).
Enjoyment motivates young children to understand and learn, albeit not obvious at times. Learning experiences within distinctive social practices of computer games and gaining resources prepare children for future learning and problem solving within and related domains. Children willingly put in the time to be challenged in a computer games they enjoy.
While having fun and being entertained, playing with adventure, problem solving skills, learning to think differently for different games, computer games encourage children to learn and think. Children are enticed to try, encouraged to put in effort and are rewarded with achieve meaningful success when they apply the effort. Children learning on all levels of skill are rewarded from the beginning, according to their level, effort and increasing ability within the learners ongoing achievements, practicing what they are learning and bettering their skills (Gee, 2003).
Playing computer games does not lead to social isolation. There is no evidence suggesting the need to be alarmed about children playing computer games. Even Children who spend a considerable time often and who have a general interest in playing computer games, do not necessarily give up other activities and interests like outdoor and sport activities. In most cases it appears to compliment existing peer relationships. Spending time with friends for the majority of children remains the favoured activity in leisure time. The allure of interactive qualities of computer technology are quite attractive in situations when children are alone or unable to play outside because of the weather (Fromme, 2003). Concerns that computers would isolate children were alleviated by research. Computers serve as a catalyst for social interaction (Squire).
Children who are heavily involved with computer games often show an outstanding level of sophistication in their ways of thinking and talking about learning. Games provide incentives and practice in developing learning skills with clear meaningful goals, multiple goal structures and scoring to give feedback on their progress, multiple difficulty levels to adjust the game difficulty to learner skill, random elements of surprise, an emotionally appealing fantasy and metaphor that is related to game skills. Cognitive research suggests that playing computer games can be an important to developing the necessary building blocks to attain computer literacy because it enhances children's ability to read and visualize images in three-dimensional space and track multiple images simultaneously (Subhahmanyam, 2000).
Young children applying themselves to the technology available to them today, in the form of computer games is “developmentally appropriate,” because they are a medium of communication and creativity. Young children show comfort and confidence in using software. Young children can follow picture directions and use situational and visual cues to understand and think about their activities, which flows and leads into other computer applications with ease. Typing on a keyboard is a source of pride and fun for children, not anxiety or fear. Computer games serve as a catalyst for social interaction not isolation. The input of information from computer games is knowledge and that knowledge gives children choices, and advances their creativity. The applications and software that young children learn from computer games gives them the confidence to approach other applications and software with transparency and openness developing their active learning and critical thinking processes.
References
Beck, J. C., and Wade, M. (2006). The kids are alright. Harvard Business School Press,
xii
Fromme, J., (2003). Computer games as part of children’s culture. The international
journal of computer games research, 3. http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/fromme/
Gee, P. G,.(2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy.
Palgrave Macmillan, 7, 13, 19, 38 -45, 67.
Horn, M. S., (1999). Young children and technology literature review: Douglas
Clements, 1999. Retrieved May 10, 2008 from http://www.eecs.tufts.edu/~mhorn01/comp194/reviews/clements1999.pdf
Juul, J., (2005). Half – Real. The MIT Press, 122 -123.
Kafai, Y. B., (1994). Minds in play: Computer game design as a context for children’s
learning. Retrieved May 10, 2008 from http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XGX9LaEI9GkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR12&dq=child+learning+computer+games&ots=96u3bOgjc_&sig=xUJJaEStqcV0Z2W-7sO7SvPnR1g#PPT1,M1
Papert, S., (2007). Does easy do it? Children, games, and learning. Retrieved May 10,
2008 from http://ludic.colophon.org/wp-content/uploads/papert_gamedeveloper1998.pdf
Rodriguez, H., (2006).The playful and the serious: An approximation to huizinga’s Hmo
Ludens. The international journal of computer games research, 6.
http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/rodriges
Squire, K., Video games in education. Retrieved May 10, 2008 from
http://www.cyberfest.us/Education/Video_Games_in_Education-MIT_Study.pdf
Subhahmanyam, K., Kraut, R. E., Greenfield, P.M., and Gross, E. F., (2000). The Impact
of Home Computer Use on Children's Activities and Development. Retrieved May 10, 2008 from http://www.jstor.org/pss/1602692
Walther, K., (2003). Playing and gaming reflections and classifications. The international
journal of computer games research, 3. http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/walther/
Thursday, May 29, 2008
NCT Blogg 9
Some Students may like the extra time to work on the essay assessment due @ the end of week 12.
Yes.
Yes.
Monday, April 28, 2008
NCT Blogg 8
Task 1
Complete the Exercises below, and then write a report in your blog about your experience doing the exercises; were there any problems ? what were your solutions? Did you find it too simple, or was it confusing? Can you see how this software might be useful to you?
Exercises: Word_Bold, Italics, Underline and Bullets, Headers, Footers and Double Spacing, Track Changes, Mail Merge; Excel_Entering and Presenting Data, Formulas
Both word and excel are very useful software applications in providing presentations in a professional style, sending bulk mail, documenting changes to legal contracts and many more forms of documents. Being able to use the applications allows the choice of formatting styles within the document and increases efficiencies. Solutions to problems that occur can be sourced from the help assistant icon. The directions to execute the exercises were easy to follow and would become second nature with constant use.
Task 2
What are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?
What is different about the kinds of socialising that happens in these spaces? Does the 3D aspect make much difference? In other words, are there things that are possible in one space that are not possible in the other? Could you think of where this sort of application might lead us?
IM is a text-based medium of communication in almost real-time with people who you know; like friends and family from your contacts list. The synchronicity of the communication between the users happens before your eyes. The communication is effective and efficient with immediate acknowledgement/reply. The cost is effective because it is free over the internet. Some IM features allow you to see the other person you are talking to, with web cams. Used as a medium for communication, IM has a social function and an entertaining function. IM is purposeful and simplistic as a form of communication.
In a 3D chatroom world, communication is not limed to who you know as in IM. Communication in 3D chatrooms develops between strangers. Games can be played in virtual worlds. 3D chartrooms can be used as a means of social active entertainment. The communication can be anonymous because, as a user, you can create an identity of choice either similar to your own or worlds apart, both in character and in how you communicate. The 3D chatrooms have more variables and more choices to consider than IM. The anonymity of the communication could lead to a person exhibiting uninhibited behaviour, both in a positive or a negative form. Children who visit chatrooms can become potential victims to sexual predators.
Complete the Exercises below, and then write a report in your blog about your experience doing the exercises; were there any problems ? what were your solutions? Did you find it too simple, or was it confusing? Can you see how this software might be useful to you?
Exercises: Word_Bold, Italics, Underline and Bullets, Headers, Footers and Double Spacing, Track Changes, Mail Merge; Excel_Entering and Presenting Data, Formulas
Both word and excel are very useful software applications in providing presentations in a professional style, sending bulk mail, documenting changes to legal contracts and many more forms of documents. Being able to use the applications allows the choice of formatting styles within the document and increases efficiencies. Solutions to problems that occur can be sourced from the help assistant icon. The directions to execute the exercises were easy to follow and would become second nature with constant use.
Task 2
What are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?
What is different about the kinds of socialising that happens in these spaces? Does the 3D aspect make much difference? In other words, are there things that are possible in one space that are not possible in the other? Could you think of where this sort of application might lead us?
IM is a text-based medium of communication in almost real-time with people who you know; like friends and family from your contacts list. The synchronicity of the communication between the users happens before your eyes. The communication is effective and efficient with immediate acknowledgement/reply. The cost is effective because it is free over the internet. Some IM features allow you to see the other person you are talking to, with web cams. Used as a medium for communication, IM has a social function and an entertaining function. IM is purposeful and simplistic as a form of communication.
In a 3D chatroom world, communication is not limed to who you know as in IM. Communication in 3D chatrooms develops between strangers. Games can be played in virtual worlds. 3D chartrooms can be used as a means of social active entertainment. The communication can be anonymous because, as a user, you can create an identity of choice either similar to your own or worlds apart, both in character and in how you communicate. The 3D chatrooms have more variables and more choices to consider than IM. The anonymity of the communication could lead to a person exhibiting uninhibited behaviour, both in a positive or a negative form. Children who visit chatrooms can become potential victims to sexual predators.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
NCT Blogg 7
Your Task today is to find two wikipedia articles/entries about unrelated topics that you know something about. That might be a movie, a sport, a type of car, a particular musical artist, a Television show, a particular hobby or past time... Something that YOU are an expert on.
Task one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_assistant
Task one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_assistant
Personal Assistant
Is this an aaccurate article?_The article is general and informative covering minimal basic facts needed to understand the topic. This article needs additional citations for verification. Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with external sources, and neutrally presented, with external sources cited, Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with external sources, and neutrally presented, with external sources cited, none of which are presented in this article. The article is biased and requires professional human resource criteria to be presented with the addition of salary expectations and employment opportunities from recruitment statistics. Tesimonials from personal assistants giving specification to duties performed and job satisfaction would be interesting to add to the article.
Task 2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_twist
French Twist
Is this article accurate? No, this article is a stub and opinions are not verifiable facts. Wikipedia content is intended to be factual, notable, verifiable with external sources, and neutrally presented, with external sources cited and this article ,none of which are presented in this article. It does not accuarately cover the basic facts or instructions to replicate the design, however the picture does give a general idea of one expected outcome. The article is subjective and requires proffesional instructions with step by step diagrams and photograps.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
NCT Blogg 6
How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?
Mass reproduction enables all people, not only the elite to appreciate art while not in the immediacy of the art and perhaps without the aura as it was appreciated prior to "Mechanical Reproduction".
There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?
Digital media can influence peoples perception more readily and in a much faster time period.
Art is defined in a broader sense today and skilled professionals have a larger medium to choose from. Digital technology has broadened the boundaries of "Art".
Is a photoshopped image "authentic"? Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?
A photoshoped image in not "authentic". Digital "things" have no "aura" in Benjamin's terms because there is no presence of the original subject or original existence of the production.
"From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print makes no sense. But the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.
One might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art. This is a symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art. One might generalize by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence."
Mass reproduction enables all people, not only the elite to appreciate art while not in the immediacy of the art and perhaps without the aura as it was appreciated prior to "Mechanical Reproduction".
There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?
Digital media can influence peoples perception more readily and in a much faster time period.
Art is defined in a broader sense today and skilled professionals have a larger medium to choose from. Digital technology has broadened the boundaries of "Art".
Is a photoshopped image "authentic"? Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?
A photoshoped image in not "authentic". Digital "things" have no "aura" in Benjamin's terms because there is no presence of the original subject or original existence of the production.
"From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print makes no sense. But the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.
One might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art. This is a symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art. One might generalize by saying: the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence."
Sunday, March 30, 2008
NCT Blogg 5
Task 1
Answer these questions without using google or wikipedia! Try some different sources. Write a post in your blog with the answers, and include the source of the information. How do you know that the place you got the answer is accurate?
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Riomel Lamores http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,2078842,00.htm
2. Who invented the paper clip?
Johan Vaaler 1899.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/287063
Samuel B. Fay in 1867
http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
1960 Chile earthquake
http://www.extremescience.com/GreatestEarthquake.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7311945.stm
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1073,741,824
http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/tanya/hwtute/How_to_measure_data/measure.htm
6. Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson 1972
http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
Computer Virus
Although it's most commonly called a worm, Storm is really more: a worm, a Trojan horse and a bot all rolled into one. It's also the most successful example we have of a new breed of worm, and I've seen estimates that between 1 million and 50 million computers have been infected worldwide.
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/10/the_storm_worm.html
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
In writing
http://www.aph.gov.au/contact/index.htm
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black Assassins
http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Transition on the Web becoming more user friendly
Task 2
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
A Mirror page is also called an entrance page, or information page. Generally what it means is a web page that is specifically created containing more relevant keywords in a single page in order to rank higher on the "spider" search engines.
http://www.infolink.bz/html/mirror-pages.html
Keywords play a huge part in increasing your search engine ranking. You have to use specific keywords that you know your target audience will be searching for.
http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seo/526_A_Basic_Guide_To_Higher_Rankings_In_Search_Engines.htm
who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Inbound Links, Signature Lines In Message Forums, Consistently Good Quality Content , Simple Page Titles
http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seo/526_A_Basic_Guide_To_Higher_Rankings_In_Search_Engines.htm
what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
Google, familiarity
Answer these questions without using google or wikipedia! Try some different sources. Write a post in your blog with the answers, and include the source of the information. How do you know that the place you got the answer is accurate?
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Riomel Lamores http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,2078842,00.htm
2. Who invented the paper clip?
Johan Vaaler 1899.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/287063
Samuel B. Fay in 1867
http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
1960 Chile earthquake
http://www.extremescience.com/GreatestEarthquake.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7311945.stm
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1073,741,824
http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/tanya/hwtute/How_to_measure_data/measure.htm
6. Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson 1972
http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
Computer Virus
Although it's most commonly called a worm, Storm is really more: a worm, a Trojan horse and a bot all rolled into one. It's also the most successful example we have of a new breed of worm, and I've seen estimates that between 1 million and 50 million computers have been infected worldwide.
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/10/the_storm_worm.html
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
In writing
http://www.aph.gov.au/contact/index.htm
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black Assassins
http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Transition on the Web becoming more user friendly
Task 2
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
A Mirror page is also called an entrance page, or information page. Generally what it means is a web page that is specifically created containing more relevant keywords in a single page in order to rank higher on the "spider" search engines.
http://www.infolink.bz/html/mirror-pages.html
Keywords play a huge part in increasing your search engine ranking. You have to use specific keywords that you know your target audience will be searching for.
http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seo/526_A_Basic_Guide_To_Higher_Rankings_In_Search_Engines.htm
who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Inbound Links, Signature Lines In Message Forums, Consistently Good Quality Content , Simple Page Titles
http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seo/526_A_Basic_Guide_To_Higher_Rankings_In_Search_Engines.htm
what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
Google, familiarity
Thursday, March 20, 2008
NCT Blogg 4
How impressed am I with myself. Very. The new element to my blog page "Visitor Locations" I installed without any IT assistance from anyone. I do consider myself technologically challenged after all. So that is a big deal for me.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
NCT Blogg 3_Alphaville Review
"Sensuality is a consequence of Love" has to be my favourite line from the movie. Sensuality is as important as breath. Could you imagine life without it, sensuality or love? Who would want to?
While the movie itself has a science fiction story line (I loathe science fiction) the setting takes place in France, a location I adore for all it's beauty which made the film somewhat bearable as the diegetic (the fictional world constructed by the film). The non-diegetic (sound which cannot be explained as deriving from the fictional world) elements I found annoying. The music of impending danger or climax, yet it kept me awake and the voice of the computer was painful to listen to. I enjoyed the absence of special effects.
Alphaville was represented as a society void of all human emotion, to show any emotion resulted in death by execution No past, no history, no memories, controlled by logic which suggests not a society or civilization but more so a horde. Remove the desire for the pursuit of happiness from the individual and you are left with a "non human". While Alphaville considered the logic more superior to the psyche, the choice of diversion to channel the individuals drives to intellectual, scientific or artistic achievement was neither accessible or accepted, nor was free will as it appeared. A civilization cannot exist without the drives of an individual and their psyche. The film however, suggests without logic and logic only, kaos is inevitable. Although it can be argued that an individuals liberty is not an asset of civilization denying the freedom unless channelled by civilization with law and morality. There was no psyche or conscience to the residents of Alphaville.
While I did not see the end of the movie due to technical issues, as it turned out the movie ended with the two main characters in Love, one from Alphville and the other from Outland.
Alphaville was a science fiction imaginary look into a future place in which the condition of life is extremely bad because of deprivation and oppression with no specific ideals_Dystopia.
Seriously, I do not watch any science fiction films for entertainment. I have not seen Star Wars, Star Trek, Matrix nothing. I did watch Doctor Who 25 years ago, maybe even more. I can't really remember nor do I wish to. Alphaville fits into that category of film for me, one I would like to forget and I am sure I will.
I found Alphaville a peculiar film.
While the movie itself has a science fiction story line (I loathe science fiction) the setting takes place in France, a location I adore for all it's beauty which made the film somewhat bearable as the diegetic (the fictional world constructed by the film). The non-diegetic (sound which cannot be explained as deriving from the fictional world) elements I found annoying. The music of impending danger or climax, yet it kept me awake and the voice of the computer was painful to listen to. I enjoyed the absence of special effects.
Alphaville was represented as a society void of all human emotion, to show any emotion resulted in death by execution No past, no history, no memories, controlled by logic which suggests not a society or civilization but more so a horde. Remove the desire for the pursuit of happiness from the individual and you are left with a "non human". While Alphaville considered the logic more superior to the psyche, the choice of diversion to channel the individuals drives to intellectual, scientific or artistic achievement was neither accessible or accepted, nor was free will as it appeared. A civilization cannot exist without the drives of an individual and their psyche. The film however, suggests without logic and logic only, kaos is inevitable. Although it can be argued that an individuals liberty is not an asset of civilization denying the freedom unless channelled by civilization with law and morality. There was no psyche or conscience to the residents of Alphaville.
While I did not see the end of the movie due to technical issues, as it turned out the movie ended with the two main characters in Love, one from Alphville and the other from Outland.
Alphaville was a science fiction imaginary look into a future place in which the condition of life is extremely bad because of deprivation and oppression with no specific ideals_Dystopia.
Seriously, I do not watch any science fiction films for entertainment. I have not seen Star Wars, Star Trek, Matrix nothing. I did watch Doctor Who 25 years ago, maybe even more. I can't really remember nor do I wish to. Alphaville fits into that category of film for me, one I would like to forget and I am sure I will.
I found Alphaville a peculiar film.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
NCT Blogg 2
I wouldn't normally source new communication technologies and only generally come across them through word of mouth. A change in address/location has led me to evaluate my choices and consider alternative communication technologies.
Facebook_ Initially I found the concept quite overwhelming and a huge invasion of privacy, however I gave into those feelings and reassured myself that the only people looking at my information are the people I have accepted to do so. So what is the harm. I found facebook to be great for me because I can keep up to date with friends and what has been happening in their wold without having to speak to them. That sounds so antisocial, but with todays fast paced lifestyle there just isn't enough time in the day to fit everything in. My favourite concept of facebook is looking at my friends photo albums because it gives me a sense of sharing their experiences. All my friends are friends that I currently know or friends that I may have had some years ago, who have made contact with me through facebook, which is a wonderful feeling to hear from old friends because while people change, friends change, the reasons you became friends in the first place doesn't. I use facebook now only about once a week.
MSN is my favourite form of communication. I love it. I use MSN daily to talk to my sister. A work colleague introduced me to instant messenger 2 years ago and i have continued to use MSN with my change of address, to talk to my sister and her family in preference over the telephone for economic reasons because while talking on the phone sometimes we don't talk, we just listen to one anther's silence.
I have no interest to meet people on line and only use the internet to communicate with existing friends, that is the extent of my socialising online. However as I become more familiar with the new communications technologies which are available that could change. I will just have to wait and see.
Facebook_ Initially I found the concept quite overwhelming and a huge invasion of privacy, however I gave into those feelings and reassured myself that the only people looking at my information are the people I have accepted to do so. So what is the harm. I found facebook to be great for me because I can keep up to date with friends and what has been happening in their wold without having to speak to them. That sounds so antisocial, but with todays fast paced lifestyle there just isn't enough time in the day to fit everything in. My favourite concept of facebook is looking at my friends photo albums because it gives me a sense of sharing their experiences. All my friends are friends that I currently know or friends that I may have had some years ago, who have made contact with me through facebook, which is a wonderful feeling to hear from old friends because while people change, friends change, the reasons you became friends in the first place doesn't. I use facebook now only about once a week.
MSN is my favourite form of communication. I love it. I use MSN daily to talk to my sister. A work colleague introduced me to instant messenger 2 years ago and i have continued to use MSN with my change of address, to talk to my sister and her family in preference over the telephone for economic reasons because while talking on the phone sometimes we don't talk, we just listen to one anther's silence.
I have no interest to meet people on line and only use the internet to communicate with existing friends, that is the extent of my socialising online. However as I become more familiar with the new communications technologies which are available that could change. I will just have to wait and see.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
NCT Blogg 1
Welcome
This is an unusual concept for me to communicate with an unknown audience. But here goes. Hopefully this will become, well I don't really know. For now I need to imaging a specific audience - that of my tutor and possibly later students in my class.
New Communications Technology_ the purpose for this blog, for now anyway.
Building a Creative Innovation Economy_ I read the executive summary and the conclusion hoping to gain an insight into the 80 page read. I took a cynical approach initially to the document. In my mind flashed false government promises, money and the mismanagement of that money and a misrepresentation in general. Have I became that cynical?
Do I expose my thoughts for all and anybody to read? This is anonymous anyway. I like to think I am optimistic and I like people to think I am optimistic, but before I read the article my preconceived thoughts on government and already tarnished my perspective.Will the article honestly represents the governments intentions? One can only hope and be optimistic, so I needed to discard my preconceived thoughts and allow optimism to settle in. Keeping in mind I only read the executive summary and the conclusion.
This is an unusual concept for me to communicate with an unknown audience. But here goes. Hopefully this will become, well I don't really know. For now I need to imaging a specific audience - that of my tutor and possibly later students in my class.
New Communications Technology_ the purpose for this blog, for now anyway.
Building a Creative Innovation Economy_ I read the executive summary and the conclusion hoping to gain an insight into the 80 page read. I took a cynical approach initially to the document. In my mind flashed false government promises, money and the mismanagement of that money and a misrepresentation in general. Have I became that cynical?
Do I expose my thoughts for all and anybody to read? This is anonymous anyway. I like to think I am optimistic and I like people to think I am optimistic, but before I read the article my preconceived thoughts on government and already tarnished my perspective.Will the article honestly represents the governments intentions? One can only hope and be optimistic, so I needed to discard my preconceived thoughts and allow optimism to settle in. Keeping in mind I only read the executive summary and the conclusion.
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