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September 2nd, 2008

Here lies (is) my blog page.  After a few minutes of rocking back and forth in confusion on this chair, I found out that I can write about what ever I want.  I flew (am) to Richmond from Seattle, Washington.  I play water polo and love playing beach volleyball for fun.

 

So far I enjoy Richmond!  I even like my CORE class.  I became interested in Plato's Five Dialogues right as I began reading it.  I sympathize for Socrates, a philosopher stuck hundreds of years pre-B.C. with men who accuse him for studying the world around him.  Socrates would fit in to today's society because we protect free speech.  The men of Athens sentenced Socrates (was sentenced) to death for using his mind in ways thought unacceptable by others.  Socrates resembled the cream of the crop when compared to all of the other Athenians.

 

Descriptive words in purple--none! Imagine what happens without them! Socrates loves adjectives and adverbs...imagine his famous "the unexamined life is not worth living" without that one key word, "unexamined."

 

September 4th, 2008

Last night was the first water polo practice for the Richmond club team.  Coming from a very serious water polo team in Seattle, Washington, it was different to see that Richmond practices only twice a week.  I am excited to play nonetheless, and am going to make the most of playing water polo here in Virginia.  Everyone on the team is very friendly and welcoming.  I am looking forward to our first scrimmage this Sunday, and a tournament in eight days.  I am anxious to see if the competition is similar to what I have experienced in the past.  I feel that the Richmond team is a strong team, we need a goalie though so I think I will try to find someone who wants to play.

 

 

September 10th, 2008

I chose my avatar because I felt that it was the simplest and most professional.  Naturally, gender vagueness was not something I wanted in an avatar.  One can clearly tell my avatar Socrates is a male unlike some of the other avatars.  Some of the other options were lame I felt because they were really odd to me.  I figured I would be able to change the appearance of mine enough to where I would be fine with the one I chose which was the guy with the business suit on.  I feel that I have to change his face and hair and skin color so it looks more like me because if I am the one controlling the avatar, I feel like it should at least look similar to me in some respects.  I plan to make the avatar really short so he does not block the screen when the camera is zoomed in because that would be annoying.

 

September 18th, 2008

 

Here is my photo of my avatar completing one of the scavenger hunt objectives.  A stranger is standing next to me.  My avatar is the one sitting with the mime colored face.  This is all I have done for the scavenger hunt so far.  It is beginning to get easier to navigate through the game.

 

I find navigation easier because I am now using my left hand on the arrow keys while my right hand can easily control the "page up" and "page down" keys for my avatar's flight. As for my avatar's face, I was trying to make the dark skin turn more white. I played with the settings and liked how odd the extreme clash of skin color looked on my avatar. It almost looks like he is a mime because the white face color looks like it is painted on him. This feature will set my avatar apart from other avatars in Second Life. Being unique in the game will make it easier for my classmates or correspondents to recognize my avatar from looking at Socrates' face.

I agree that SL entries are restrained. With that being mentioned, I want to focus on my experience getting to the hobo junkyard. I opened my inventory and used teleportation with ease. I flew around upon entering the desolate world, soon to discover that the world was only barren because my computer had not rendered the scenery yet. I was lost and could not find the junkyard. I teleported again to the same location as before, but this time I waited a few seconds until the images loaded on my computer. I looked around and found the fire. A stranger was editing his appearance on the couch to my left. I tried to talk with the avatar but he was not responding. I took a snapshot and logged off. I have come to realize that Second Life can be very empty in terms of other avatars being in remote locations such as the junkyard. I am anxious to explore more busy areas of Second Life and continue making observations in those locations that have more observable human interaction.

 

September 30th, 2008

 

I have made my way to Dublin, Ireland with a few simple clicks in Second Life.  At first I appeared in a vacant area, and had trouble walking around.  After the long load time, I walked into the first building I saw and found a group of people sitting on the counter of the bar.  I asked how to order a drink and none of they helped me out.  I found the beer on tap and figured out how to get a glass poured for me.  I kept the object and noticed my avatar would drink randomly, but I could not see the cup.  I attached it to my hand and it looked more realistic.  I find it interesting that real people built the beer tap for others to interact with.  Why does someone care if I can order a fake beer?  Does it add to the social scene that I observed when I saw the group of six avatars sitting on the counter?  Does this mean I can build objects that others can investigate as I did to someone's beer tap?  I plan to visit more areas in Second Life and see other avatar's creations because I am curious to see what objects people have built as I am sure it took time to create the pub.

 

October 1st, 2008

 

As I was walking in Tyler Commons the Freshens smoothie shop caught my eye.  The bright signs are carefully placed symetrically for customers to see.  I took the picture because the bright colors of the two upper signs and the lower center sign form an appealing triangle.  This is visually attractive like much of what I see in Second Life.  When looking at this store I focus on the name and also the bright colors of the fake fruit in the lower sign.  One Second Life moment in this picture is the three signs being visible.  In Second Life, there are many signs for avatars to click and examine that others create.  In this photo the signs advertise the shop which makes a statement for customers that the smoothies are for sale.  In Second Life, avatars can create designs for others to examine similar to these signs to promote ideas or make statements.  Some signs in Second Life make political statements such as signs promoting Barack Obama.  Furthermore, the fruit clearly look artificial because they are too perfect in shape.  This strikingly resembles Second Life because in Second Life the objects, clothing, and avatars look too perfect for the real world.  The fruit looks like it was created in Second Life.  There is a person ordering from the store and behind him in the dark are many people talking.  This is also a Second Life moment.  As I have seen in a bar in Second Life, people get drinks from the counter and then proceed to socialize with other avatars at the tables around the counter.  This is similar to what I saw in Dublin, Ireland inside Second Life.

 

October 16th, 2008

 

 

October 16th, 2008

 

Wikipedia Smack-Down

 

In your blog, discuss why the claim needed to be changed, how you found evidence, and what you changed (with before and after examples of the errant passage).

 

The claim I changed came from a Wikipedia post on water polo.  

 

The initial claim was:

 

Outside water shots require a player to cease swimming, and usually occur outside the 2 meter zone. Players may perform an inside water shots.  The t-shot or bat shot is executed by scooping the ball with the non-dominant hand, "loading" the ball to the dominant hand, and propelling the ball forward. The pop shot is a quick shot executed by cupping the ball with the dominant hand from underneath the ball and releasing it, usually into a corner of the goal. This shot is timed with a player's swimming stroke, and should flow comfortably from the dribble. Other inside water shots include the screw shot, which can likewise be executed directly from the stroke, and a spring shot where the player pushes the ball slightly into the water (but avoiding a "ball under" foul) and then allows a sudden release. While beginning players will have difficulty integrating these shots into their stroke, resulting in weaker shots as compared to outside water shots, inside water shots by experienced players have sufficient force to skip past the goalkeeper. One thing the shooter must watch is how close they get to the goalie because they can come out of the goal and take the ball.

 

I decided the claim had to be changed because the term "inside water shot" is not expanded.  What is an inside water shot?  When does one perform a wet shot?  The Wikipedia post goes on to explain types of "inside water shots" but does not define the term well.  I gave another term for the type of shot, "wet shot".  I did this because this is how many players on the west coast know the term and now people searching Wikipedia can find familiar water polo jargon.  I changed the passage to:

 

 

Outside water shots require a player to cease swimming, and usually occur outside the 2 meter zone. Players may perform an inside water shot, also known as a "wet shot". "Wet shots" are shot from water level by players who are currently in control of the ball.  Wet shots are performed when the player has open water between him and the goal due to the defender being behind him or her.  A "wet shot" is valuable as the player does not have to stop and lift the ball up for a shot, making it easy for the trailing defender to steal it.  Instead, the player can keep the ball in front of them while performing one of the following shots: The t-shot or bat shot is executed by scooping the ball with the non-dominant hand, "loading" the ball to the dominant hand, and propelling the ball forward. The pop shot is a quick shot executed by cupping the ball with the dominant hand from underneath the ball and releasing it, usually into a corner of the goal. This shot is timed with a player's swimming stroke, and should flow comfortably from the dribble. Other inside water shots include the screw shot, which can likewise be executed directly from the stroke, and a spring shot where the player pushes the ball slightly into the water (but avoiding a "ball under" foul) and then allows a sudden release. While beginning players will have difficulty integrating these shots into their stroke, resulting in weaker shots as compared to outside water shots, inside water shots by experienced players have sufficient force to skip past the goalkeeper. One thing the shooter must watch is how close they get to the goalie because they can come out of the goal and take the ball.

 

The errant passage was vague, leaving readers with no sense of when a wet shot occurs in a game.

 

 

REFERENCES + How I found the sources

 

I found my references by using Google.  There were no academic resources, I checked on our campus' database.  Hickosports is based in California and California is huge into water polo, so it is fairly reliable.  More importantly, the article on the countdown to the Beijing water polo games is trustable and supports my first source.  Here the history of water polo is given, and "wet shots" are mentioned.

 

 

Hickok, Ralph. "Water Polo Glossary." HickokSports. 17 Dec. 2007. 16 Oct. 2008

     <http://www.hickoksports.com/glossary/gwaterpolo.shtml>.

 

Khan, Joshua. "Countdown To Beijing: Water Polo." InventorSpot. 18 July 2008. 16 Oct. 2008      <http://inventorspot.com/articles/countdown_to_beijing_water_polo_15663>.

 

October 15th (class work)

 

In reading Pencils to Pixels, the major point is that there are four stages to communication.  There is the constrained stage, the change to familiar stage, the spreading stage, and the replacing old technology stage.  This point holds true when looking at the television over the past decade and the internet.  The internet was initially constrained until it became faster and was adopted into most households.  While the internet spread, it replaced television and this can be seen in the form YouTube and live television being able to stream through people's PCs.  Even televisions have changed to appeal to the new generation of people who are familiar with the internet.  For example, some news stations broadcast with an internet-style.  This is to say that what a watcher sees looks somewhat to what he or she would expect on his or her computer.  There are drop-downs, hyperlinks, and even mouse icons on television these days.

 

October 21st follow-up:

 

"Humanists have long been considered out of the technology loop. They use technology, to be sure, but they are not generally seen as pushing the envelope. Most people think of writers as rejecting technological innovations like the computer and the information superhighway, preferring instead to bang away at manual typewriters when they are not busy whittling new points on their no. 2 quill pens."

 

This excerpt from Baron’s "Pencils to Pixels" at first does not seem to support his major claim that technology goes through four stages of development.  It simply claims that humanists appear to stray away from technological advancements.  However, Baron ties this section of his writing to his major claim when he mentions the following about a humanist who actually contributes to the advancement of literary technology:

In any case, Thoreau was not the complete Luddite that Henderson would have us believe. He was, in fact, an engineer, and he didn’t make pencils for the same reason he went to live at Walden Pond, to get back to basics. Rather, he designed them for a living. Instead of waxing nostalgic about the good old days of hand-made pencils, Thoreau sought to improve the process by developing a cutting-edge manufacturing technology of his own.

 

 

Denis Baron uses:

 

Clanchy, Michael T. 1993. From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.

1. What is the author's focus?
2. Why do you think Baron included this source?  If it provided him evidence, what sort?  If something else, what and why?

 

Answers:

 

1 - The author's focus is to discuss how society changed from the time of the Normans up until Edward I's ruling.

2 - Baron includes this source because his own focus is how the technology of communication develops over time so it is reasonable that he would explore medieval society to find a discussion on the technology of writing.  This is exactly what this source gave Baron.  Baron uses it to support that writing changed over time and how validity techniques developed to prove a piece of writing's authenticity.  Baron pulls from Clanchy's writing that "writing" was used by the Normans to steal Saxon land because land transfers were done through writing.  Baron explains that writing developed credibility techniques such as seals, knives, and other symbolic notations to prevent such fraud.

 

October 30th, 2008

 

 

The Big One

 

 

Topic: What aspects of Second Life cause addiction to its users?

Why I chose my topic:

 

 

I chose to focus on the addictive qualities of Second Life.  I will have to quantify what "addictive" game play is.  I will research the definition(s) of addictions from a psychological point of view.  I think it is very interesting how some users I have come across spend six hours a day inside Second Life.  I want to know what causes this addiction because this is a successful business perk for companies' who design virtual world oriented games.  If I could find out what causes addiction maybe I could use that to my advantage later in life if I ever design a product for consumers.  I am curious as to what causes people to continue playing the game.  As a new user I was not hooked by the game but I also did not explore many of the areas that Second Life has to offer.  I wish to find out if the social side of Second Life plays a major role in luring players back into the world.  Maybe discovering the addictive qualities to SL will help me view addiction in general differently.  I am curious to if not cover, at least discover the effects of addiction or cures for it as well as it could prove to be useful in understanding addictions better.

 

 

Claims I want to avoid reasoning FROM: I can not just assume everyone is addicted when interviewing in Second Life.  I must use my research to reason toward a claim and make no claims prior to my reasoning.

 

 

1. Gackenbach, Jayne, ed. Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Implications. New York: Academic P, 1998.

 

 

This source should not only cover internet addiction but relate several aspects of the internet and psychology that might help me reason to a claim such as the psychology of sex with close and distant relationships.

 

 

2. Haugtvedt, Curtis P., Karen A. Machleit, and Richard Yalch, eds. Online Consumer Psychology: Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World. Danbury: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Incorporated, 2005.

 

 

This source looked promising because businesses who create virtual world oriented games most likely try to provoke addiction to increase profits.

 

 

3. Castronova, Edward. Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

 

 

This source focuses on how virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft are becoming more popular and reflecting real life social aspects and might be able to inform me why this is so or can lead me deeper into my research.

 

 

4. Avatar, Bob. "Addiction in Second Life." Personal interview. Nov. 2008.

 

This source will give me an opportunity to relate what I learned about addiction in general to Second Life.

 

November 6th, 2008

 

Registration was awful this morning.  I was prepared for the race to electronically enter all my ideal CRNs into the online boxes and click submit the fastest.  I was starring at the clock on my computer, mashing f5 like a monster to refresh the webpage for the big event. 

I had all my five digit class registration numbers ready to be instantly inserted onto the webpage.  I should have gone to the library this morning because I heard the internet was faster there.  Instead I was caught in the mass internet traffic caused by several hundred freshmen simultaneously entering the website.  With eleven spots left in my ideal economics course and my computer struggling to load the registration webpage, I was doomed.  I now have an 8:15am class.  Other than this downfall, I was fortunate to secure a seat in Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Public Policy, and of course CORE.  Spring semester will be very rewarding because I am interested in all the classes I will be taking.  I plan to rush a fraternity so I will have to work hard to keep my grades up which should easier if I enjoy the classes.

 

November 13th, 2008

 

My Wikipedia edit was not altered at all.  I believe that reason was because I refined the initial claim, making it clearer.  Curious to see if the public watches this Wikipedia entry closely, I decided to enter a false claim.  At the top of the article I changed "A team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper" to: "A team consists of five field players and one goalkeeper".  I wonder if someone will notice the false statement I purposely entered on Wikipedia.  I imagine I will see a change in my false statement because this time it is the first sentence of the article rather than buried deep within the Wikipedia article.

 

November 20th, 2008

 

I found Meadows' work to be fascinating.  I agree that avatars are the new form of digital communication.  He clearly believes that people cleverly present themselves in virtual worlds in ways they intend to.  Virtual worlds are becoming the norm today where users have avatars.  For example, xbox live just had a new update this past week that gives every user an avatar to run around with while not playing games.  This new "xbox dashboard" is exactly what Meadows would describe as a popular avatar-oriented digital world.  I can picture Microsoft adopting this new technology to replace Windows XP or Vista in the future.  That would be interesting.