Lectures 9 & 10 - Learning Software and Video Games

In week 9 our good buddy Jason provided a rushed lecture in which he essentially messed around with the latest version of Adobe Flash. The underlying point was how to teach one's self a new piece of software as even if you think you know something, each version has the possibility of completely changing the program in question.

To put it simply, when using any piece of software you need to find the easiest and simplest way of doing what it is you need to do. Don't waste time trying to figure something out if it doesn't seem to be clicking, mess around with the toolbars and all the available options and be sure to SAVE constantly. Keep different copies of the same project in case you do something irreversible.

Each program is in itself a learning process. When it comes to big programs like Adobe Flash or Photoshop you're going to have to master them over time over many different projects, such things are not designed to be mastered overnight. That is not to say they aren't user friendly, just that they are highly complex toolsets intended to acheive many kinds of outcomes.

Just take it easy and remember your objective and start with the basics. Everyone is familiar with the arrow tool, use it to drag objects, highlight or select an area to work on. Other icons are self explanatory, the paint bucket is a tool most people figure out quickly by colouring an object. Just do the same for every other feature, select it and see what it does.

If you're having troubles, rather than using the help section which isn't intended for beginnersd but rather to guide experienced users through additional features, check out some forums. Consider your wording, work out what you are trying to achieve, google it, and check out forums where users post step by step tutorials.

That's all it takes to teach your self software; patience, perseverance, and a little research.

Our week 10 lecture consisted of the Study of Video Games. Obvious to anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past decade, video games have been integrated into our day to day culture and has become commonplace. In the 90s or earlier, video games may have been considered nerdy, with gamers stereotyped as 18 - 25 males who live at home with their parents. In fact, the only study conducted prior to 2005 placed 18 - 25 males equivalent to 80% of the entire video game market and so this stereotype was formed.

Despite the past, stats have changed and sicne 2005 41% of the market is now dominated by females with males still leading by 59%. Whether its due to new diversity in gaming platforms or genre, its clear times have changed, gaming is now socially acceptable as are gamers. This new integration raises many new questions though as gaming exists as an important part of the entertainment industry.

There are three main approaches to the study of gamers: Social Science, Humanities and Industry and Engineering. Social Science exmaines the effect of games on people with the most common complaint being against violence in video games. Now, I personally believe that video games don't create a violent person and that it makes sense that a violent person would be attracted to violent games. The most prominent activist, and often regarded hilarious by the gaming community, is self proclaimed crusader against video game violence Jack Thompson. Thompson has a vendetta against basically any game with even a hint of violence or immorality, his exploits can be viewed here http://www.jackthompson.org/. For a concise list of his cases also visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist) complete with sources for each case.

The next field of interest when it comes to video games, Humanities, studies what actually attracts people to video games whether I be the narrative or some other kind of appeal. Humanities aims to study the context in which games take place and how they reflect on the era in which they were created. Humanities regards video games as artifacts of an era and a medium of art.

Finally, the Industry and Engineering approach is often ignored by casual gamers. It is thanks to the demand for video games as a medium of entertainment that other forms of technology are produced, including what reguarly boosts the speed of computers. To make games better, new technology must be produced and so gaming companies are always working away at creating better processors and better systems to enable more speed and better visual presentation.

Lastly, I would like to bitch briefly about Wiifit. Okay, so its no worse than people using a fitness video or something similar, but our lecture actually informed us that they are using these in Gyms in America. That is stupid, the game basically informs you of exercise activities that you could read off of a poster or do on your own, it does not require a game. I know I sound like a technophobe and that this is in fact an innovation, but it takes the fun out of gaming, it isn't really a game. With games becoming commonplace, new developers are messing with the market and piling it with crap. Yes, this does attract a whole new audience to video game consoles opening them up to not only Fitness based programs but a full library of games as well, but it jsut seems wierd that we need a video game console to tell us how to exercise. I guess I'm just having difficulty adapting to the new era of games.
Having always been a fan of game since I was six years old I'm glad to see people are coming around. Back then I never knew anyone to discriminate against gamers, but i would certainyl sya it was still a niche market. Today games ar emore commonplace and it makes it better for us long time fans as we now have more games, and more enthusiasts to interact with.

Essay Topic For Week 12

Out of the potential essay topics I have chosen #3.

3. Digital media put the tools of production into the hands of the everyday computer user making it incredibly easy to produce content. These creative skills used to be something that people worked to develop. Now it appears that amateurs can produce content of a fair standard within a relatively short period of time. Where does this leave 'professionals' and highly-skilled artists? Choose one area of creativity and discuss some of the challenges facing practitioners vs amateurs in producing digitalcontent.

This is the most applicable to my interests and I intend to follow it up in the near future.

Lecture and Tutorial 8 - Politics!!

Today Stephen Stockwell opened the door for us to do some independent research on a topic we often overlook when it comes to our precious New Communication Technologies. I'm talking about politics and how our use of communication technologies has an affect on this. Now, this is not just referring to politicians and the like, but the politics of life and the world in general, so lets keep that in mind (although I will be talking about politicians too).

Of course, as per usual, internet enabled computers allow us to participate globally and share our political and social opinion while engaging in debate. The internet has changed the way political party's handle their campaign's with many politicians nowadays making use of youtube, facebook and twitter in order to gain the support of the new generation. I recall Kevin Rudd doing this back in the day - everyone loved him because he posted a video on youtube and he added anyone who would have him on facebook.

Most of us are what is referred to as part of 'the public sphere' meaning, we don't have a lot more influence than our single vote. However, through media and technology, including: the internet, talk back radio and opinion polls, we all get to have a say and most probably influence many final political outcomes. Regardless of how powerless we may feel, in the long run, if a person has a good opinion and can support it, people are going to notice and agree. The internet is just the resource to make such a statement.

If you look a few posts back, you'll notice the Taylor Swift versus Kanye West debate. Not a situation of great importance, but within hours of it happening the internet was riddled with opinionated video responses, such is its power. The same can be done for any political debate. So if you have a good opinion, go ahead and throw it on youtube, chances are people will listen, even if just a few thousand.

Another attribute of Stephen Stockwell's lecture was his overview of the 'Cyberpunk' genre. Technology influences our culture and times very strongly, with Cyberpunk exploring uses of powerful technologies, including computers, the internet, and ideas of cyberspace all with an underlying theme of anarchy.

There were also a number of great readings offered by the lecture including Mark Poster's 'Cyber Democracy' and also We’re all hackers now: Doing global democracy.

This week for our tutorial we had a number of tasks. Firstly we had to sign an epetition.

Rather than sign one of the many ridiculous petitions located at a site like petitionspot, I opted to sign something that might have actual momentum. So I looked a little deeper and found: whalesrevenge, it already had over one million signatures so I was more than happy to contribute. It also had a little flashgame on the homepage made in the style of 'sinksub' where instead of a submarine you take the role of a whale and shoot high pressure water at the Japanese ships above. A clever and fun game that clearly illustrates the cause and concern in question.

The next task was to find out what U.S. Prime Minister Barack Obama was up to today. I was quick to find a website that enjoys stalking him. While they were yet to update on his activities of the day, although, maybe they had, I'm just not taking into account time difference. The articles go as follows.

"Posted September 15 12:27:51 PM

UPDATED: The event has ended, but we'll have more on the President speech at the AFL-CIO Convention later."

"Posted September 15 5:59:12 PM

Earlier today, the President traveled to Pittsburgh, PA for the annual AFL-CIO convention. He addressed the gather union members, thanking them for their support and laying out his priorities. He spoke about the Recovery Act, his priorities for rebuilding a new, greener economy, and how health insurance reform will help all Americans achieve security and stability when it comes to their medical care. Here are some excerpts from the speech: For over half…"

If you want to stalk Barack Obama too, I recommend www.barackobama.com.

Next I was to respond to a professional blogger at a major news site. I frequent ninemsn news as it pops up every time I log into messenger. I scrolled through some pop culture stories and replied to this one in particular.

http://music.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=486180&showcomments=true

Now I was to find out who my local, state and federal representatives are. This wasn't exactly easy, but after checking a number of government sites I managed to find the people in question.

www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au led me to CR John Wayne of the Gold Coast City Council, my local Helensvale representative. The others were a little easier with my State government representative for Qld being MP Peta-Kaye Croft and my federal representative for Australia being MP Stuart Robert MP. The prior two representatives were derived from these sources:

http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/attachment/factsheets/contacts-federal.pdf
http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/attachment/factsheets/fs357_government_members.pdf

My next task instructed me to find out the last time my local member had spoken in parliament and then to let him know what I thought about his speech. I wasn't able to find any info on his parliament speeches, it seems his focus is dedicated to the local community. All for his current exploits can be found here along with an email address (division2@goldcoast.qld.gov.au) at the bottom of the document where I was able to contact him and let him know he was a benefit to our community. If I really wanted I could meet him in person "I am at the Helensvale library to meet with residents on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 9am to 10am. No appointment is necessary."

Finally, with all that said and done, it's time to attack...

THE CLEAN FEED!!!

From the time it was first brought up there has been unanimous disapproval from nearly all Australians except for the evil Minister - Senator Stephen Conroy. My personal thoughts and feelings on censorship were already very strong. I utterly disapprove of censorship of any kind, I see censorship as denying reality and locking the bank of available knowledge. I agree things should be classified in age appropriate categories, that way, the parents and the individual gain the responsibility and the freedom to choose what they can and can't watch, view or interact with. That freedom is what we are about to lose should the evil Minister - Senator Stephen Conroy's plan to censor the world go through. I say this because the majority of all information nowadays comes from the internet. It's the greatest collaboration of human knowledge and creativity on earth and Stephen Conroy seems to be jealous. I am thoroughly against his evil plan.

The website www.nocleanfeed.com says it all in terms of good points. I highly recommend viewing it if you wish to learn more about the Clean Feed and what it means for Australia.

The following facts come from the aforementioned site.

"The filtering will target legal as well as illegal material."

"$44m has been budgeted for the implementation of this scheme so far."

"The clean-feed for children will be opt-out, but a second filter will be mandatory for all Internet users."

"A filter will slow Internet access down by up to 80% according to a Government report."

"Only illegal material published on web sites could be targeted, completely missing other methods of distribution such as BitTorrent."
(Which just happens to be the biggest method of illegal distribution from what I gather and hear from people that use torrents.)

"Most Australians don't want the filter.Support for this overly broad policy is virtually non-existent, even from child-protection organisations. A recent survey shows that 51.5% of Australian net user strongly oppose the plan, while only 2.9% strongly support it."

"The money is better spent elsewhere. The filter will cost tens of millions of dollars to attempt. Yet the Government's own studies admit education is more effective than filtering in protecting children, and that "content risks" are less dangerous than other risks."

It's unclear whether or not this plan is specifically being implemented in order to protect children from content or whether its focused on preventing illegal downloads, however, the very act of such viewership, the responsibility falls on the user themselves, and in the case of children, the parents.

"The protection for children is minor at best, an illusion at worst. The clean-feed does nothing to protect children from real threats like cyber-bullying, online sexual predators, viruses, or the theft of personal information. It may provide a false sense of security to parents, reducing effective monitoring of their children's online activities."

As my favorite quote from nocleanfeed asks "Who decides what material is "appropriate" for Australians to see?" The world is what it is and life would be better spent trying to improve the world directly rather than trying to pretend like certain things don't exist. Plus it's a massive waste of money - trying to spend money denying us the internet! How about spending that money so that people who can barely afford food might be able to eat time to time, let alone have internet.

Jeez, this filter thing has gotten me really worked up.

Craig Out.

My Freeware Experience

As it turned out when I went to download some freeware programs I was to discover that I was already an avid user of such things

Firstly there was VLC Media Player. This program has always been a pleasant alternative to the default Windows Media Player, allowing different video and audio streams as well as the application of different sets of subtitles. To this day I still don't understand the workings, generally if you can't play a video you simply download a newer codec and that should do the trick, but not always, however, simply with VLC you can play nearly any type of file you desire. I highly recommend this if you're having any troubles in that area.

Yet another example of my already ample use of freeware was Mozilla Firefox which I have been using for years. Simply put, it feels smoother than the standard Internet Explorer, it has the option of downloading applications to make browsing a safer and more pleasurable experience. Such applications include the Video Downloader which allows one to save videos from sites such as youtube for offline viewing. While not too much different to Internet Explorer, the interface is slightly different and just feels more aesthetic, so again, a good recommendation.

Frets on Fire is a more creative application. I had never tried it, but my friend introduced me to the program a few years back and I was impressed. In the style of the popular video game series Guitar Hero, Frets on Fire allows users to take any song and then use their keyboard like a guitar to electronically play the song. This is a greta free program if you're too cheap to dish out for Guitar Hero and if you're not too embarassed about using a keyboard as a guitar. Though you have to program songs that don't automatically come with the program, most songs can be found by users from other sites if you're willing to seek them out.

Ah, and now we come to GIMP, a Godsend for anyone who doesn't happen to have a spare $1000 or so sitting around for something than they more often than not need in a computer class. GIMP is essentially photoshop, while minus a few features, all the essentials are there, including shade and colourization, chopping out backgrounds, multiple layers and plenty more. So don't be a chump and fork out for photoshop, get GIMP.

The world of freeware continues to evolve as wonderful individuals contribute a great array of programs to the already prominent catalogue. There's a bright future in the world of freeware, a world where you don't quite know what's around the corner, but you're sure it'll be good.

Taylor Swift versus Kanye West

Kanye West is at it again, stealing the mic from Taylor on stage at the VMAs, and declaring his opinion, that Beyonce should have won the award.

I love Taylor Swift, and I didn't need any extra reason to hate Kayne West. But here it is.

Here are some hilarious responses, an example of people using the internet to express their opinion, whether sincere or ironic.



Hells yeah. I agree with Tyler 100%



Jbigga should marry Kanye West.



Kanye West Fails... Indeed.

Lecture 7 -Summary (Open Source Software)

This week we had Jason again.

We checked out what's called Open Source Software. Programs and applications made by users for non-profit purposes, but simply to go against the monopoly held by companies like Microsoft and Abode who charge excessive absorbent prices for necessary software.

Unlike programs made by the evil corporations, Open Source Software, also referred to as Freeware, has open coding, and so other users can edit and evolve the code. Freeware exists in a collaborative environment where everyone freely contributes to create better and better programs for free access.

For people that don't want to fork out hundreds to thousands of dollars for a copy of Photoshop because they need to edit an image as part of their education or work, there exists "Gimp" essentially a recreation of photoshop, except without a few features. Freeware creators start from scratch and produce programs that mimic the necessary features of existing available software and then make it free for the public.

Another feature of freeware, is that often these pieces of software will carry out only small and very specific tasks. Jason mentioned one that would go through and resize a collection of photographs, a great invention as it prevents users from having to individually resize each.

There was an exhaustive extent of available programs. Fortunately, our next task was to download some and check them out. Needless to say, I'm eager to do just that.

Links containing collections of freeware include:

www.portableapps.com
www.freewaregenius.com
http://download.cnet.com

As a sidenote, portableapps has the best overall collection, freewaregenius exists to review rather than distribute the applications, however most reviews have a link to the software in question. Download.cnet does provide some freeware programs, however, there is a downfall. Most programs found there are free trial versions and don't give the user full use of the program and continue to request purchase.

So be warned...

Until next time where I review some freeware applications myself.

Fake News Report

Here is my fake news report. Shot on digicam and uploaded to www.ireport.com



Unfortunately, had I taken a decent look at the site before hand I would have noticed the tagline "Unediting. Unfiltered. News." It's pretty clear from my video that the shots are staged and that I constructed in brief this fake report with some minor transitions. However, it was simply my understanding that we were desigining a fake report and I was informed we could make some digital edits.

That being the case, I am happy with my, clearly staged (and how) fake news piece.

Hopefully I get some laughs. And hopefully I get some that actually take this seriously.

...I am not sure about the reliability of the uploaded video as it has yet to appear online after a day. As a cautionary, I have uploaded the video directly to this blog.

Lecture 6 - Summary (Production and Consumption)

This week's lecture was essentially a look into how communication has changed production and consumption.

I can't think of a lot to say, so I'll be general. Originally, media and communication was purely a consumption driven industry - people would go to the cinemas to see a film or they'd sit at home and watch their televisions.

Yes, back in the glorious old days, people would take everything and give nothing back. What really changed everything was 'the internet.' The Internet allowed people the opportunity to create and share their own content using computer applications and uploading it to the web. Nowadays with mobile phones, digital cameras and the like, people can not only access the internet 'on the fly' but can also produce and distribute their own content no matter where they are thus contributing to production.

I want to take a look at what I consider 'recycling.' In which a consumer takes content and then produces something using the content itself or the ideas embedded, thus 'recycling.'

We took a look at several sites that illustrate what I'm talking about. The first was thetrailermash where a series of recuts can be found. Essentially, these videos take footage from the movie and then re-edit them, mixing and matching scenes, adding their own special effects and ultimately produce a brand new trailer where the genre has been reversed for comic effect.

I have linked to a video as an example. For those of you who have never seen Mrs. Doubtfire, it's a family comedy, this new trailer is... well, take a look.



The next site was fanfilms.net where people take the ideas of the films they love and recreate them in their own image. Most videos found on the site are spoofs rather than tributes, take a look at what I consider 'Twilight In A Nutshell.'



Basically, in short, the internet has made way for consumers to also become producers as they can openly distribute their own content. What's more, the above videos illustrate how one can consume and then produce or rather "recycle" content.

Now, our next task is to upload a fake news report to www.ireport.com. So consider me out to get my reporting gear.

Creative And Social Uses Of The Net

Elaborating on the Week 5 tutorial, here is a brief review and discussion of five sites Jason showed us.

Firstly is Polyvore which essentially acts as a dress up game, allowing users to search through an extensive catalogue of clothing and then piece them together to get the right look.

What's more, the site also provides collections of outfits worn by popular celebrities so that users can mimic their favourite look.

This site is both a great social and creative piece, allowing for creative combinations of clothing and for users to get an idea of what they are after instead of having to browse multiple stores.

I constructed a little dress up of my own: man I wish more girls dressed like this (not really).


Next is an interesting site http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php. Essentially, users get a live feed of disasters as they occur around the world. They can see exactly where the disaster is happening and the extent of the situation. The site also keeps information on impending disasters and past disasters for additional reference.
Again, a great social tool for knowing whats going on in the world around us all.

http://www.speedtest.net/index.php?nojs=1 is a site that shows how long it takes for the user's computer to conenct to other servers and computers anywhere around the world, thus visually providing a distinct image of just how simple it is to communicate with someone anywhere around the world. While not a site that keeps you coming back for more, everyone should check it out at least once in order to see the potential of the communication age we live in.


Finally, a list of the numerous social networking sites on the web can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites.

Besides the popular, myspace, facebook and twitter, it is clear there is a number of social networking sites that cater to a particular audience or subculture.

This wikipedia list is a great site by itself as it gives a list of potential hotspots that apply to a specific interest so that people can meet up with others who share the same interests.

One site shown by Jason Elftown goes to show, that subculture is important and perhaps more enjoyable to some people then using myspace or facebook where there is no specific interest toher than sharing assorted information with friends. These smaller social networking communities encourage creativity and allow for users to embrace their particular interests and bask in it together. Quite frankly, the internet needs more sites like this (not about elves though).

The image below is a screenshot of testimonials given by Elftown users. "I use Elftown because...' I found this interesting as it is something you rarely see at sites nowadays. It really gives its users a sense of importance as it displays their input and allows them to express their love for their subculture.

Another social networking site last.fm allows users to add their favourite bands and artists and automatically creates visual representations of data, including top songs, playlists and much more. However, perhaps best of all, it provides band suggestions based on a user's current artists by finding similar groups, thus allowing users to expand their library and also meet peoplle who share the same interest in music.

Here is a visual representation of a small bunch of bands I listen to.


All up there is no limit to the creative and social potential of the internet, and it is clear from all these sites that there are some great ideas out there. Who knows what the future might hold... One thing we can be sure of though, there's always going to be something interesting.

Week 6 Tutorial

Courtesy of www.sketchcast.com, a site linked to us by the wonderful Jason, the entire world can now experience my pathetic attempt at sketching. An attempt so pathetic some would consider it funny... here's Gary.

It seems my sketchcast has inexplicably disappeared, so to compensate I have uploaded someone else's sketch in order to show what the site is all about.

...After further study there seems to be an error with sketchcast itself as it won't allow me to embed any sketches, so unfortunately I must leave this out. As an example I have taken a screenshot of the end result of a sketchcast video. The user draws the image and then sketchcast creates a video of the image being drawn.


Also, in order to fulfill this week's requirements, here is a screenshot from the website Personas. Personas is a program that shows a visual representation of the all the data that appears when your name is searched for online and compiles it in a graph.

According to the internet, this is who Craig Thompson is.

Google Maps

So I got around to creating my own Google Map. It's pretty aweswome, the idea is its an online address book, but with the cool exception, you can label each address or hotspot, and then download directions to get from where you to where you want to be. I listed some cinemas, restaurants and me and my friend's house to test it out and ultimately I think its a good thing to keep if you've got a lot of places you want to rememebr. Fortunately, it's more convenient for sharing with other people than keeping for yourself. If you like a place, you generally know where it is and how to get there. Nevertheless, take a look at mine if you're curious as to my feeble lack of hotspots.


View Craig Thompson's Hotspots in a larger map

Internet Short Films

The following are a set of three internet exclusive short films intended to illustrate the unique opportunities the internet provides people with creative talent, but whom wouldn't originally of had a method of gaining exposure.

The first of my videos is Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout, an episode in a series of 'Angry Video Game Nerd' episodes by internet personality James D. Rolfe. Originally james posted two video game reviews online in a distinct style and the videos became rather popular. James tidied up the production and actually started to produce regular episodes hosting them from his website www.cinemassacre.com. The videos continued to gain popularity to the extent that www.gametrailers.com actually started to sponsor James as a result allowing him to share his films with a broader audience.

I chose this video as it shows how the internet provides a much greater slection of cinematic entertainment as I wait for each new episode how I would wait for a new television show episode. The internet gives a chance for everyone to express theirselves, and the truly talented of the bunch actually can make a career out of their work through sponsorship and brand merchandise.



My second video is an episdoe from a youtube serial created by brothers Remi and Regis Broadway, entitled 'Choose Your Own Tube.' This was the first of a now common technique involving audience participation in youtube videos. At the end of each episode viewers are given a three or four options on what can happen in the following episode. After tallying the votes, the next video reflects the most popular outcome and the series continues as such. While not as successful as some youtube hits, it was the first series to attempt the idea and still exists as a symbol of creative use for youtube and internet video. Regis and Remi created the series as a trial for a potential TV Pilot in order to gauge audience responses, using the idea for audience participation as a hook and means of evaluation.



Unfortunately, the internet isn't necessarily home to unique and interesting video entertainment. This simple snippet of a home video has acquired 9,801,953 views, millions above either of the previous productions. This particuarly goes to prove that the internet isn't only a means of creative expression, but a waste dump for humorous, but redundant material that doesn't serve to do anything but provide a cheap laugh. However, the views alone just go to show, this is the kind of thing people enjoy. While interestingly, this video has likely received no profit and is quickly forgotten about. It's cheap, you see it, laugh, tell your friends, forget about it, and they do the same.



I think together these short films demonstrate the variety of material available on the internet. Anyone can have their 5 seconds of fame here, whether it be through creative expression, creative evaluation, or a cheap gag. All three of these films are entertaining in their own right and do the internet proud.