Tag Archives: #King

Where Did All the Interactive Creativity Go?

Passion,

In our new-age day of technology, many kids have left behind simplistic games and toys–such as cards, tag, or even just playing pretend out in the yard–and moved on to virtual worlds as a means of entertainment.  This builds an expectation of having super advanced electronic toys, so when kids ever come across simple toys, the toys appear lame or boring:  kids just do not know how to play simply as much anymore.  I believe this is mostly a negative outcome.

I remember when I entered into my adolescent years and started really getting into Nintendo and virtual computer games.  You know: Mario, Zelda, Roller Coaster Tycoon, etc.  I hardly ever played outside anymore like I used to.  My mother would often urge or even force my siblings and I to “go play outside”;  it was almost like a punishment.  Sure, I did still play outside every now and then, but not nearly as much as I had when I was younger.  Playing these games that were already created it became harder for me to be the creator instead of imagining worlds and characters as I had done frequently before.  I was playing in someone else’s virtual world.  But, this leads to a lack of interaction between children and other people in the outside world.

As Madison Miller says in her RCL TED Talk, these games require no previous creativity of the child or any creativity during the game.  She is correct here.  But though the majority of virtual games do not allow the child to utilize creativity, there are very rare computer games/programs that actually do–such as the animation program Alice.   

alice_web

Wait, you mean I’m actually talking about a technology in a positive light? (What has the world come to?)  Why yes, I am.  Just remember this is rare and not many children are exposed to this kind of technological experience.  But what is Alice?  Some of you may have heard of it before because of Dann Pausch–famous for his Last Lecture–who helped create this program.  Created at Carnegie Mellon University, this program (named after Alice from “Alice in Wonderland”), unlike most other animation programs, is a much more simple programming software for people to use; it teaches the user 3D animation basics through a fun storytelling setup.  Children, if given the opportunity to utilize such a tool, could gain such a helpful skill which they may or may not use later on in life, while at the same time having a blast.  I know kids can have great fun with this because my own younger siblings have used this program before and they absolutely love it.  Sadly though few people know about this kind of thing and even fewer introduce it to students or children.  Just think what creativity we could instill in kids again if this were more prevalent.  It would lessen the negative effects of newer video game technology mentioned above and even provide children with an awesome experience.

 

Cite:

http://www.cmu.edu/corporate/news/2007/features/alice.shtml

http://rcl.la.psu.edu/this-is-rcl/ted-talks/toys/

RCL Post (Ted Talk Ideas)

Passion, RCL,

1.  One thing I know I want to include is some element of a psychological study, or multiple ones–like the one study I referenced in my essay about how a lot of praise and awards actually increase potential of failure in school and later on in life.  It makes me think of the stereotype of Asian and how it is said that they are very tough on their kids not giving a lot of praise–though this is a stereotype there are cases where it’s true–which pushes the kids to not give up.  This form of parenting may actually benefit children and prepare them for their career whereas a lot of awards might not be good–especially if the kids did not try as hard.  I can talk about how are trophies actually beneficial or not (my opinion is not).

2. Another thing I may want to include is about fairness and equality and how it relate and how generally it is thought to be a good thing, but if acted on in certain ways can decrease the value of competition (which is an important thing kids need to be exposed to for later on in life which is full of competition).  It would break the commonplace that equality is possible when the fact is, is that in life a perfect equality does not exist.  In whatever career path you choose there will be competition between co-workers to get promotions. whoever is better in the work place will most-likely get the promotion.  Equality cannot exist in the work place, so why should we raise out children on the idea that equality does exist and everyone gets a fair share?

Darn You Auto-tune

Passion, , , ,

autotune_meme_by_ultimaweapon13-d5hd150

Auto-tune, I may not know much about it, except that it sticks out like a watermelon in a cabbage patch because of it’s obvious electronic modifications of the vocals or instruments in a song.  This new technology has taken off and can be found in many songs today.  I have nothing against auto-tune but, like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad–an sound really fake. (cough cough Nicki Manaj)

After doing some research I found, not-surprisingly, auto-tune was created solely for the purpose of clearing out any off-tune vocals, hence the name.  Then the music industry slowly figured out they could also use it to mess with, change up, and experiment with the sounds in the music (which is actually really cool) I think auto tune usually doesn’t sounds good, in some cases it can, but most cases it can’t and doesn’t. Also it takes away any talent from the people who can actually sing. If anyone can use auto-tune to sound like an angel those who can sing well won’t get recognized.

So, I’m going to go over when I can and can’t tolerate auto-tuned music.  Generally I believe if the only contribution auto-tune makes is a fake sound, no.  But, if it’s maybe more subtle and enhances a certain feel the song is going for, then I can.  Such as in the song “These Streets Will Never Look the Same” by Chromatics: there use of auto-tune is successful in that it isn’t over done and imprints a lasting almost haunting feel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hYPk5m6uuM

I know there are more examples, but an example of a song that has been beat dead by auto-tune (in my opinion) is a song most of us know “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6XpLQM2Cs  I guess if she (or the record company) couldn’t achieve the sound they were going for without auto-tune, I guess I can slightly understand.  Who would ever want their voice to sound like Ke$ha’s I don’t know. She just doesn’t need to be that obviously auto tuned.

I guess, also one thing that bothers me is that these songs are the ones played on the radio often and I just don’t see the appeal to it.  Shouldn’t the songs with actual talent in them be play more often? Instead we are fed rigged sounds enhanced  by computers.

 

Cite:

http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/top10autotune.htm

http://www.howstuffworks.com/auto-tune.htm

 

 

Englsh 2 Netsp33k

Passion, , ,

text-message-cartoon

 

The spread of texting and netspeak, instant messaging (IM), and spell checks (like auto correct)  has transformed our competent language into an almost new language in itself–except there exists no boundary between English and this new language.  People, mostly younger people such as teenagers, often forget to separate texting lingo from actual speaking/writing.  Netspeak and texting lingo being found in kids’ school homework proves this mesh.  An article from “technologyandlanguage.weebly.com”, regarding this, reports,  “a girl in Scotland famously wrote an entire essay in lingo indecipherable even to the Internet-savvy: ‘My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :-@ kds FTF. ILNY, its gr8.'” (Ward).   This could be the outcome of our frequent use of technology.  I know whenever I write an essay–or even this blog–red squiggles appear underneath the words I’ve miss-spelled, so I don’t even really have to think about spelling, it’s the same with auto-correct on Iphones; even though half the time auto-corrects corrects incorrectly it has conditioned many people with Iphones to not write as carefully and rely on spell-checks.  When you grow, or stop being, used to something it’s hard to prevent it happening.

In addition, the change in the way people talk/write (like the girl seen above) comes about by the convenience of texting lingo and netspeak: shortening words like “you” to “U” in order to save time and money.  Since this lingo has become so prevalent in our daily lives it eventually becomes natural for us to sometimes, even accidentally, write this way in a normal circumstance, which in the long run decrease our ability to separate formal English from informal English.  The decline of formal English to some people brings with it a fear of the destruction of the language as a whole.  In this article Humphrys, a full-fledged journalist, writes  “vandals are doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbors eight hundred years ago.  They are destroying it: pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary.  And they must be stopped”  With the spread of new technologies come with it the spread of abundant errors and the possible diminishing of our language.

Now, with many people worrying about this change, is it really something we should be concerned about?  Some may say no but I believe, seeing the many people who aren’t worried about this, that our concern is valid and maybe we should do something about it.  We don’t have to go on a ban of Iphones, but maybe, just maybe, when we are texting we could use less lingo as to not get accustomed to it, and as well we can write more carefully, consciously aware of the differences between texting and not.  It’s our choice: do we want to risk the extinction of our language’s uniqueness?  Or will we sit by and watch it be destroyed?

 

Cite:

http://technologyandlanguage.weebly.com/destruction.html

Surviving the (Insomnia) Zombie Apocalypse

Passion,

zombie_tired_by_silenceinthecourt89-d4znlsb

A heightened need for coffee, contagious yawns, and the notable, blank, soot-eyed, faces:  this is invasion of the insomniacs induced by–not brainwashing or mutation, but the corruption of our sleep cycle by bright, active, screens.  It’s not just in America either, this phenomena is world-wide.  Florence Cardinal, “World of Technology Disrupts Sleep” says in her article, “Children in New Zealand are suffering from sleep deprivation caused by the technological world we live in.”  Clearly this is happening almost everywhere for that’s where it’s sources have spread; technology has spread almost everywhere.

“I’m going to bed soon”, we tell ourselves right before finishing “one last text” or “one more episode”.   Two hours later, and what has happened? We’ve allowed the lit screen to entrap our attention like a  bug drawn to those electric lanterns which end up killing them.  Sure, it may seem harmless.  Then, as most of us know, after we finally turn off our devices we struggle with falling asleep.  It’s one AM, we know we should go to sleep, but lying in bed something about our mind keeps us slightly more alert then we should be.  But what is it that flips the switch, turning us into insomniacs?  My opinion, supported by studies, is that it’s the disruption of our natural circadian rhythm.

Our circadian rhythm is our body’s natural sleep/awake clock which becomes activated/deactivated through sunlight as controlled by our hypothalamus.  It’s how we innately know to wake up in the morning and feel tired at night.  When we are exposed to less light, out brain produces the hormone melatonin, which makes us drowsy. Dr. John Herman, a sleep expert at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, reports that “the flashing lights on the games and TV shows may be resetting the circadian rhythm, changing the body’s internal clocks so kids want to stay awake and get up later each day.” This makes sense being that our alertness doesn’t have to be triggered by natural light; often times in our modern world light from man-made sources, such as televisions/computers/cellphones, etc. inhibit the production of melatonin and acts as a “sunlight” which tells our brain it’s time to be awake just when we need malatonin the most.

It may not be all due to corruption of our circadian rhythm, but also the fact that texting and scrolling and watching tv activates our brain, we are processing and thinking when our brain just needs to wind down.   This is why many people suggest cutting off technology at least a half-hour before sleep, so our brain and mind are actually ready for sleep when the time come–and we don’t have to go through our next day like a sleep-deprived zombie.

 

Cite:

http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/c/5954/26117/technology?ic=50604

Two Possible Topics (RCL)

Passion, RCL, ,

My first topic I’m considering is to write about the paradigm shift of the attitude of “everyone’s a winner” and how now a days kids always get trophies in sports even if they fail, because we are afraid to honestly tell children they might need some improvement.  I’m sure it hasn’t always been this way in our society. I can some how research, maybe by interviews with relative, the ideals related to this and it’s progress and how we got to where we are today in this ideal.  I will first start by asking question–like we did in class–such as how has this ideal impacted the development of children in relation to self-esteem. When did this change come about and what caused it to come about? Does this relate to out current ideal of having political correctness? The only thing about this one would be how I’d conduct research being that most of m relatives live least an hour away…I could possibly find information from online or text sources though they may be more difficult to find.

My second idea would be to research the changes in media and the paradigm shift from hard-core facts to the medias current view of covering entertaining stories so they maintain viewers and money.  This one would be more research based, instead of interviews.  I’d discuss how exactly this paradigm shift came about in relation to changes in the world and economic system. When did this shift happen? How does this effect us today? Is it necessarily positive or negative?

Maybe We’ll Have Robot Teachers in the Future

Passion, ,

It’s not a secret that technology has become a bigger part of learning in schools these days; many assignments and quizzes teachers place online instead of requiring them to be done on paper.  This can save paper and ink, and since most everyone has a laptop/computer the pros usually outnumber the cons: students can easily access school materials and complete their work in a timely fashion.  There is however a question to ask–as technology is ever growing within our school systems–how far do we go? When is it too much and when will the pros stop outweighing the cons?

These questions are ones being currently asked like in cases where many people are debating whether or not younger children should be given Ipads in schools.  In such places like Belmont Hills Elementary in Lower Merion Pennsylvania, and Auburn school district in Maine–school officials here say they are the first public school district in the country to give every kindergartener an iPad–kids as young as kindergarten were supplied by the schools with Ipads.  Though some studies claim too much screen time can lead to psychological problems and trouble interacting with people, many of the school districts that have adopted the Ipads state it will lead to an increased engagement in the children since they interact more with the Ipads.  The teacher are such though to assure the children don’t lose sight of reality with the screens, but use them to enhance the learning and hopefully raise test scores.  Are these devices necessary? Does it matter if they are necessary?

I think from my point of view, going to the extent of giving five-year-olds Ipads is a bit extreme and introduces a dependence of technology at a young age, which may or may not be a bad thing–especially in the direction jobs are going, where it’s rare to find a job that does not utilize technology.  I believe the teacher is what makes the class, not the technology.  So, maybe in these school districts the test scores could be improved by better/more engaging teachers and/or methods of teaching. Sure, little things like projectors for power-points, and occasional laptop use (mainly for older kids)  are very useful and beneficial.  But, what happened to the days when we didn’t even need to consider using outside resources to strengthen children’s engagement in schools? Has technology changed the way teachers teach?article-1375427-0B91388000000578-761_468x302

Cites: http://www.necn.com/09/12/11/Kindergarteners-get-iPads-for-school/landing_scitech.html?blockID=563064 http://balacynwyd.patch.com/groups/schools/p/all-kindergartners-getting-ipads-in-lower-merion

What Makes a Good Blog (RCL post)

RCL, ,

So far, the two blogs I have enjoyed reading include Alicia Campbell’s “The Living Art”, which focuses on different aspects of theater life and the importance and value of theater, and Thomas Foster’s “This Day in History”, which like the title suggests gives and describes a relatively important event that happened on the blog post date in history. 

Alicia’s blog catches my attention because it breaks the stereotypes some people hold of theater.  Most people may think of happy pointless musicals and plays; what Alicia writes about is how these play–which certainly aren’t pointless–convey bigger meanings and messages to the public and how these plays are a form of fighting against issues which may be controversial.  Being in theater herself, I feel as if she brings a whole new level of understanding and credibility to her blog.  You can tell with all the specific facts she knows what she’s talking about: she cares about her topic and there lies passion beneath the words.  It’s fascinating to me the deep, direct, connection these plays have with societies issues, past and present. This blog it not to ostentatious or too cliche.  It’s informative, to the point, and  illustrate great points!

The  “This Day in History” by Thomas Foster is a great blog, in my opinion, because of it’s general factual quality and beneficial quality.  Maybe it’s because I grew up around many aunt’s, uncle’s, and cousins who are enthralled with history, visiting graveyards to find people, reenactments, museums, and, many historical accounts–but I believe more people should appreciate and know more about history.  That is exactly what this blog does.  The official mien of the blog template itself emanates a plain but mature and smart feel, the font is professional in a way that brings the writer more credibility/ethos.  Every word clearly has been thought out and the writer has definitely done much research to inform the reader of the historical event, giving me the impression of a well-informed and passionate blog writer who writes about actual important subject matter as opposed to some more generic entertainment blogs.

This brings me to the question, what makes a good blog? Well the definition of good can differ per person, but for me in entails the following: obvious passion, knowledge of the subject, relatiative , and interest.  When I’m reading someone’s blog who lack’s passion for what they are writing about, I can feel it hidden under the words; less passionate blogs contain a bland uninterested point of view. Both blogs I meantioned are definatel written by two people who are very passionate about their subject.  Whatever the subject is, the writer must have some knowledge of it, whether that includes research or previous notions.  I like to be able to relate to a blog in order to enjoy it fully, therefore with my appreciation of history and my fondness of theater I can relate to and enjoy these topics.  Lastly, it has to be interesting. If Alicia just wrote about plays but didn’t connect it to real issues, I would not be sold.  If Thomas just wrote historical accounts with no relevance to our current day, Kairos would be lacking. Everyone’s blogs are excellent, these are just the two I found most enjoyable to me.

The Technological Key to Insincerity

Passion, , , ,

Routine acts create unconscious–containing almost no awareness– insincere habits: like wearing a watch everyday or being around one scent, eventually the stimulus, or act, appears to fade.  Our habits influenced by sporadic texting and tweeting have turned into the norm.  We’ve gotten to the point where many parents even neglect to give their children enough attention, which forces kids to compete with technology for attention.   According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, “young people ages 8 to 18 now spend nearly every waking moment when they are not in school using media — more than 7.5 hours a day.”  Imagine all that could be accomplished in all that time, anything from getting extra sleep (something people complain about not having), to hobbies.

It has also been proven a good number of people prefer digital interactions than face-to-face.  Over-time this has lead to an increase in lessened face-to-face communication which can ultimately, but not necessarily, weaken our social skills.  Many of us know the hesitant, or fearful feeling when you actually have to talk to someone through the phone as opposed to your usual texting.  But, not only does it decrease our willingness to converse directly but it also decreases emotion; we can perfectly well type out “I’m sorry”, “I’m okay”, and “I love you” but typing it isn’t the same as saying it, in typing we can mask our true feelings and the person on the other end can’t know the different. There are no voice inflections or facial expressions to hint at the true intent of the speaker–in this case, texter.

This breaks down all stable foundations of sincerity  and honesty, it leaves us wondering whether or not the person means what they “say”.  We can even become confused or offended in texting conversations because to some people, texting may be equivalent to a regular conversation where no one suddenly stops responding, so when that happens it messes with the sincerity a conversation is supposed to have.  Then, when in real life when people are having a supposedly sincere conversation, occasionally one person will whip out their phone and start texting away at another person, taking away their full attention of the person they are actually with.  The person who texts while with someone else fails to even attempt to see from their perspective, they assume texting is the “norm” and the person won’t be offended. Sometimes people–including me, who has been in this situation many times–who are trying to construct a sincere and meaningful conversation are hurt with a worthless meaningless feeling that the person, who started absently conversing someone else, believe you’re not worth their full attention.  All in all we lose recognition of genuine sincerity and what it means and what it’s worth to give all of ourselves (and all of our time and attention) to another individual: maybe that’s why so many relationships end so frequently or why some relationships fall under the crushing weight of fighting and/or miss-communication.  There is strength in patient, sincere, humility. 22-images3

I absolutely love technology!! Don’t you?

Passion, ,

Disclaimer: There is absolutely no sarcasm in this article: I am utterly serious.  

Technology, where would the world be without it? Well, we would be without all the unreliable pains that come with it, such as power-shortages, printer’s not printing, frozen computer screens, and viruses. I mean, how did the people survive without technology in the olden days? I know I have a blast when I’m typing up a paper that’s due the next day and my printer runs out of ink, then my fun continues when I’m forced to drive to the store to  buy some since almost every single teacher now-a-days assumes everyone has access and patience for technology.  Isn’t it wonderful when your computer gets a virus and you have to wait for eternity while your computer cleans out this invisible monster you don’t even know how it got there? Good times. I don’t know why anyone would ever want to write an essay on paper and miss out on all the adventure of Microsoft Word.  Not to mention, paper kills trees, unlike computers; all they do is use up a ton of electricity, it’s not like electricity is made from any of our limited natural resources.  How about the fact that technology in general is so reliable! You buy a computer and it lasts, maybe seven years! Phones as well last for a long time, don’t they.  Oh, well they don’t, but who cares when new phones are created all the time because the previous ones were crap: I just always know the new phones will be much better than the old ones.

My next point about how I love it!  Some people prefer to spend their time outdoors, in the sun, getting in touch with themselves. Ha! I can get in-touch just find, in fact technology allows me to get in touch with anyone, anytime I want–even at three am when I’m deathly alone with no one to talk to.  I feel I don’t need to get to know myself when I can get to know everyone else and possibly even lose my personality with it because I’m so focused on other people and my amazing technology.  I hope you can relate; I never even leave home without some form of technology with me, I literally cannot live without it (I’ve tried and failed). But, there are some crazy people who don’t even have a smart-phone, why  torture yourself. Everyone should be able to experience the joy I have, it’s a shame some just don’t understand.