noTofThiSwoRld

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Take a "Dance" to Live!

<a rel=”license” href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/”><img alt=”Creative Commons License” style=”border-width:0” src=”http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/88x31.png” /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel=”license” href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License</a>.

Artists’ Sites:

http://thisisdecktonic.com/

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Southman/

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/DZZ/

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Ask a Pirate

Ambrosia: Could you please introduce yourself with your name and what you do.

Sharon: My name is Sharon, and I am an artist.

A: Cool. The topic of today's interview is on intellectual property, so my first question for you is what is your understanding of intellectual property?

S: My understanding of intellectual property is anything that a person intelligently conceives with their own intellect put to together, or to create something that is of use somehow.

A: And how well would you say you understand the current laws and regulations surrounding intellectual property?

S: As far as understanding the laws, I understand probably very little.

A: Okay, can you explain in your own words what you do understand about the current laws and regulations?

S: I understand that there are laws put into place that help to protect people and that basically what the law covers is your ability to file for having created or discovered the intellectual property by gathering all of your documentation and any information that you would like included and by sending it in and being able to have it protected so that no other second or third or any other party can stake claim to it. If they would like to use any of it or all of it, they would need express permission directly from you as the person who filed first.

A: Wow that's a lot, see you know. Do you think there are ethical dimensions to intellectual property rights, besides just the legal ones?

S: I'm not real clear on what you would consider an ethical dimension...

A: Let me see if I can restate it...do you think there is ethical value in intellectual property rights, besides just legal ones?

S: Okay, so what you're asking is are there further dimensions that should be considered, or...

A: Ya, do you think the way the rights are implemented now, do you believe that there are ethical values or it's strictly monetary and legal?

S: I believe that it contains ethical values, I'm sure that with anything though when a lot of laws are made they don't take every perspective into account so I would assume that there's further work that could be done to protect the intellectual property of people who file.

A: What do you think should not be protected by the intellectual property rights? Or do you believe pretty much anything that anyone thinks should be protected?

S: I would have to hear some examples cause just in thinking off the top of my head, I don't think, I mean I'm sure people would be filing for things that are just totally ludicrous but without knowing what that list is I couldn't agree or disagree. I would think that anything that someone feels is of value that they have been the creator of they deserve the right to that property. 

A: Okay, I like that answer. As far as the term that intellectual property is protected, how long do you think that should be?

S: Well, with understanding the length of time that it is now, I kinda feel like, two things I think, once that person's life has expired there really is no necessity for them personally to continue to have that right, that it should be allowed to be then opened for others to use and develop. However, if that person through inheritance has left the rights to someone else and they actively pursue it or even just the mere fact that they have those rights then it should be an inheritable type of situation. So, I think that, in other words, if I created something, filed for it, and I pass a way next year I should have been able to have left it as an inheritance to my children, husband, or whoever my heirs would be and they should have the right to either wave that right to keep it or they should have the ability to keep it.

A: Okay, and would it stop at the generation after you or would you give them permission to pass it on to the next generation and so on?

S: If it belongs to you, and maybe even made it into an entity, a functioning company, or a huge reality, I don't think that right should be taken just because of a time span. I think the original creator intended it to be passed on as a legacy, if it's for that purpose than they should have the right as the heirs to that, just like a house would be or an estate, it's the same thing. Property is property.

A: Thank you so much for doing this interview with me.

S: You're welcome.

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Volunteer Craziness

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I'm Not Digital Illiterate!!

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Dubsteppin'

<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License</a>.

Artists' Sites:

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Southman/

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Everlone/

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/AViDD/

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Decktonic/

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Copyright Scare

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Interview w/ a Gamer

Ambrosia: Can you please say your name a little bit about yourself.

Ryelee: My name is Ryelee, I am a junior here at UH. I was born and raised on the Island of O'ahu, in the town of Waimanalo. And I am 20 years old, about to be 21.

A: What's your major?

R: Oh, my major is ethnic studies.

A: Do you play video games?

R: Yes I do.

A: How often do you play?

R: I play about maybe 3-4 hours a week.

A: Do you have a current favorite right now?

R: MBA 2K13

A: What do video games mean to you?

R: Now that I'm in college, I find them as a stress reliever. I used to do them just to have fun, but, I mean I still do them to have fun, but it's like when I'm really stressed out about school stuff or with work I'll just play a little video game to get my mind off of things.

A: Does it seem to work, as far as getting rid of stress and stuff?

R: It actually does. I feel that when I play video games and I win or I do good in certain levels I feel like I accomplished something and then it makes me want to do my school work.

A: Do you think that video games have positively or negatively impacted society?

R: I think the only reason why they have been negatively impacted is the way that the media blows it out of proportion. You can't really blame someone's actions on a video game. You can say they have a part of it, but not everyone is the same. Not everyone will be like, 'I want to live my life like a video game and shoot people or like kill people'.

A: Do you feel there are more harms or benefits caused by video games?

R: Like I said, going back to the previous question, it's basically on how the media portrays it in my opinion. You can see a lot of positives out of it, like I know a lot of people develop hand-eye coordination pretty good. But, the way that the media portrays it is like 'oh, well you play a violent game, you're a violent person'.

A: Ok.

R: But, I'm not saying all health issues are positive too, like if you play video games too long, I'm pretty sure you'll like damage your eyesight or develop insomnia, things like that.

A: Ok, this is way out of the ball park of what we've been talking about but do you think that video games can be considered art?

R: You know, I think they can. If you think about people who design the video games a lot of the graphic detail they put into it is really like, a lot of it is life-like, especially the newer generation consoles that have all those graphics in it, it looks pretty spot on.

A: And last one is, if someone you knew showed interest in video games, would you encourage or discourage them to play?

R: I would encourage them to a certain limit. I wouldn't want video games to take over their life, but it's a good thing to have to create that kind of spark of imagination, I guess. 'Cause sometimes when you play a video game you kinda get lost into it so you can be, you can be something that you're not in real life. But you need to realize that there's a difference between real life and video games.

A: Ok, well, thank you so much for doing this interview with me.

R: No problem.

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Behind the Game-Times

I had been brought up from an early age to believe that playing videogames was a waste of time and focus. Interestingly enough, a lot of my cousins and friends play videogames FOR HOURS on end. My aunties, uncles, and even my friends' parents beg me to somehow get their kids off their games and go out and do something "in the real world". Even though I'm surrounded by elders that detest videogames, I've always been fascinated by them and how so many people can become so engrossed in them. Hearing the TED talk from Jane McGonigal and reading excerpts from her book, Broken Reality, I really feel encouraged to get started in a game. The part of her talk that really hit me is when she touched upon how many of us feel stressed, overwhelmed, even depressed in reality as we cannot see immediate feedback from all of the work that we do. Everyone knows that the path to becoming a doctor is not a walk-in-the-park or a very fast one - it calls for perseverance, patience, and determination. On top of that I'm also a biology major, which is also known for being one of the toughest majors of them all. I've been in college for 5 1/2 years now, and sometimes I feel like I've gotten no where in becoming a doctor. There is SO MUCH WORK involved, but there is very little feedback or results from the work besides the grades we get, which usually I don't see until the end of the semester. McGonigal's statement that we can have that "epic win" feel and help make a better world just sounded too good to be true - and definitely something I should try for myself.

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What is Art???

Art. It seems like such an easy word to understand. It's a word that's used in almost every subject of conversation, it's easy to spell, and in most cases is easy to recognize. However, when Sean asked us outright in class today what art was - I had no idea how to answer. To me, art is an abstract concept, which is basically the same thing as it has no true definition. It's almost like asking 'what is love', love is an abstract concept with no true definition and there are infinite examples to 'explain' what love is. I did come to a realization, though, as Sean gave what he called "a gross and over simplified definition of art". Art may not have a true definition, but it does have criteria, same as love. Of course, just because there are criteria for the general term of art, does not necessarily mean that they will be exactly the same for any type of art. This I found out as the class began to tackle the second part of our discussion - are video games art? I believe that they are, but as we were comparing the criteria for art that we had discussed only moments before to the ludus and paidea parts of video games, I started to get shaky on where I stood - and I still haven't quite found my footing as of yet.

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Rate My Professors

RateMyProfessors.com is a site that has become a very important part of the choosing-the-right-professor process of college. This free site provides ratings for 1.7 million professors over 8,000 schools from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Rate My Professors is a site made for college students, by college students, but professors are allowed to join the site as they are then able to "respond" to the comments and ratings that they receive from their previous/current students. The membership, however, is different for professors than it is for students, as professors require a Certified Professor Account from Rate My Professors. Students provide school information and up to 20 professors that they have taken or are taking now upon creating their account.

Henry Jenkins defines Pierre Levy's term of collective intelligence as "the ability of virtual communities to leverage the knowledge and expertise of their members, often through large-scale collaboration and deliberation" (Jenkins, 321). Rate My Professors meets this definition very well, in that it is a virtual community where college students use their expertise in knowing what kind of professors are good to take, which are good to avoid, and provide knowledge in the form of comments as to why the professors were given certain ratings. The aim of this collective intelligence project is to allow college students to do what they've always done - find out from friends, siblings, sibling's friends, and anyone else about the best professors to take and which professors to avoid - but on a bigger scale. This bigger "arena" allows for a more 'well-rounded' review of each professors, especially if there are a lot of ratings and comments for that professor.

With the availability of professors to respond to the students comments and ratings, there is a chance to see both sides of the story. But, more often then not, the students have these professors figured out from the beginning, showing that college students really are experts when it comes to knowing what kind of professor is the right fit for students - with a few exceptions. Rate My Professors has met this aim, with 15 million student comments to date and over 4 million college students visiting the site monthly. Personally, I haven't met one student who doesn't use Rate My Professors, and I know many who are members, including myself.

Bibliography:

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture. New York University Press: NY, 2008.

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Ludus and Paidea

I've never thought very much about playing and the different types of play there are. Looking at Frasca's explanation, however, I can definitely see a line between what he calls ludus (games) and paidea (play). My group had a great example today of a 'game' that was very much under the category of paidea, called "Eat Poop My Cat!". This 'game' has rules, but they are not very limiting, there are no winners or losers, no one gains or loses anything, and there is no ultimate result besides just having fun. Frasca's main argument, however, is what caught me: games are not narratives. In the past I have often thought of some games as being a narrative, especially if a game is based off of a narrative. However, after discussing Frasca's argument, it can clearly be seen that games are not narratives, but they can produce a narrative. I've had first hand experience with this with a game that I've played based off of an anime called Inuyasha. In the game, there is a 'basic' journey that is the same for each character, however, the way in which the journey plays out is based on which character you choose and the different choices you make at each checkpoint. Thus, the 'journey' is not fixed, making the game itself not a narrative, as each player, such as myself, would create a new narrative.

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1/28/13

10:33 - I almost got thrown off by that quiz, but I'm 99.9% sure I chose the right answer, woo hoo!

10:34 - The first mini-boss mission has been assigned! I'm only 39 points away from qualifying, yay!

10:36 - I thought I'd be able to do these mini-boss missions by myself, BUT this mission looks like A LOT for one person.

10:47 - Frasca says that there is a problem with looking at games as narrative, games are adaptable, while narratives are fixed

10:50 - Narrative theory is not capable of explaining games in full

10:52 - Frasca has suggested two "words" that differentiate game from play; ludus (game) and paidea (play)

10:58 - Ludus: there's a winner/loser, gains/losses, firmer rules than for paidea

11:00 - Paidea: it's "fun", non-utilitarian, there is a physical/mental challenge

11:05 - Frasca is careful to say that a game can PRODUCE a narrative, but games are NOT narratives

11:06 - Narratives usually include a plot, character(s), and a setting(s)

11:10 - It's group time! Each group gets a "game", and our game is called "Eat Poop You Cat!", very funny!

11:14 - Our game is VERY STRONGLY paidea

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1/25/13

10:32 - Max wants to go back home in California and become a 3rd generational firefighter, very cool!

10:33 - Garrett has broken both wrists, thumbs, and elbows, ouch!

10:40 - There is too much information out there today for only one person to manage

10:43 - Collective Intelligence; a community process in solving a particular problem or answering a particular question

10:45 - Collective Intelligence DOES NOT EQUAL Shared Knowledge

10:46 - Shared Knowledge; pooling of knowledge, sharing information

10:48 - Collective intelligence is not about becoming "smarter", but finding an answer or solution

10:49 - Most collective intelligence are never complete; For example, Yelp!

10:54 - everyone knows something, no one knows everything, contributing information when its needed (Jenkins)

10:58 - the problem of Contested Information in a Collective Intelligence is not a new one; epistemology

11:02 - Jenkins brings up the topic of popular epistemology on pg. 44 of Convergence Culture

11:06 - Next, Transmedia Storytelling (Chapter 3)

11:07 - Jenkins says that transmedia storytelling is not just about using different media to tell the same story, but enhancing the story through different media

11:08 - Transmedia storytelling is NOT adaptation, NOT licensing

11:15 - The Matrix: live action (The Matrix, The Matrix: Reloaded, The Matrix: Revolutions), VG (Enter the Matrix), anime (Animatrix), comics, MMO (The Matrix Online)

11:16 - Additive comprehension

11:20 - Transmedia storytelling can help enhance our experience of the story, but...it is another way to get money out of us (not that surprising)

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1/23/13

10:34 - Nikolas has been to 7 countries

10:36 - Chris was in a 5 car accident and got out without a scratch

10:38 -A digizen had uses shopping, sleeping, and going to the beach as therapy

10:40 - Another Digizen had a pet pig growing up named Snuffles

10:42 - Finished my Howdedodat? mission, woo hoo!

10:50 - Henry Jenkins says that Convergence Culture is about Media convergence, Participatory culture, and Collective intelligence.

10:55 - Jenkins flow of his introduction "story": PBS -> Dino Ignacio -> Bangladesh Protestors -> Cable News (CNN) -> Blogs -> PBS

11:00 - Does this PBS/Dino Ignacio story reflect Top-down or Bottom-up movement?

11:11 - Media Convergence vs. Tech Convergence

11:13 - The Black Box Fallacy; we will never come to the point of a "Black Box" because of social interactions and "standards"

11:18 - Jenkins says that there is a proliferation of "black boxes", but media will be able to flow through these specialized "black boxes"; Sean uses the example of Netflix, being able to watch it on our phones, through our Wii, Xbox, etc.

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Skateboarding 101

I've always admired skateboarders in that they have the physical ability and balance to actually ride and maneuver a skateboard, as I have never been able to and probably never will. Ever since I started coming to UH Manoa, however, they tend to annoy me more than anything else. Or at least those who do not understand that when you are moving through a crowded, narrow sidewalk, you should probably pick up your board and WALK through the crowd. I've actually been ran into and almost knocked down by a skateboarder who decided to ride through McCarthy Mall during the busiest time of the day. That was about a year ago, and from that day on I prayed that it would never happen to me again, cause 1) it was embarrassing and 2) it hurt. Apparently yesterday was my lucky day, because as I was walking down Maile Way to my next class after our AMST class, a girl decided that it would be a good idea to barrel through the crowd, on the sidewalk, on her skateboard. Then all of a sudden she decided she should probably stop, but then couldn't as she started to lose control of her board and was coming right at me. Thankfully my reflexes were much faster this time as I literally jumped off the sidewalk and onto the road, but I pretty much almost had a heart attack at the same time and had to take a few breaths before I could move again. I guess being at UH Manoa there's just no way to escape skateboarders, so I'll just pray that it'll be another year before something like this happens again.