Filed under Responses …

Mar 16 2012
Deep Play, Responses

Response: Video Games & Computer Holding Power

“Similarly, the experience of a game that makes an instantaneous and exact response to your touch, or of a computer that is itself always consistent in its response, can take over.” Some gamers (such as most of the people featured in this article) crave the level of control they can achieve by perfecting their gaming skills.

When I read this, I was instantly reminded of a passage I read in a blog my friend has been diligently keeping. The post focuses on Jeff’s image of himself as a “big” person; big personality, big voice, and specifically, a physically big person. He explains how he craves progress, and finds it more readily available in the video games he plays than in other aspects of his life, such as exercise. The particular quote is near the end, and is as follows:

“I’m a sucker for progress . . . That exhilaration I feel in knowing I’ve made progress towards something, that I’ve accomplished a goal is really what I’m after, and usually, with exercise I don’t get that. But I do with videogames.  A few hours of button pressing, and my silly little on-screen man gets a shiny new sword . . .” 

Like many of the people in this article, Jeff gets an instantaneous response when he plays games. He can make progress, albeit in a virtual space. He’s constantly striving to reach the next “checkpoint,” and he’s noticed that it’s difficult to find that instantaneous kind of motivation in other aspects of his life.

“I don’t always know where to find this same feeling in many of the aspects of my life, especially with things like exercise and eating healthy. It’s much easier to stimulate my pleasure centers now with a tasty treat, than to attempt to sate them with the far-off promise of confidence and self-worth, locked away behind many a locked door, which I only have a chance to open with a great deal of will-power and motivation. “

In “Video Games & Computer Holding Power,” a comparison is made between the promise of progress and perfection to that of exercise or “molding the body.” Once people begin to notice an actual change in their appearance, they’re motivated to continue. Jeff reflects on this in his post:

“I remember vividly a time when I could see the silhouette of a 6-pack showing through my stomach, some feeble outline that hinted at the idea that there were abdominal muscles buried beneath my jiggling belly. And I’ve never been more motivated to work out in my life.”

Both video games and exercise have holding power, but I think games give a more instant result, which many people crave. Games can make you feel in control by promising a goal and showing you your progress as you go, in some cases quite literally with a “progress bar.” However, this obviously isn’t the case with other aspects of life.

 

Mar 14 2012
Deep Play, Responses

Response: No Quarter

I don’t play video games, and prior to reading this (along with the Edge of Art chapter on Deep Play) I did not know that the US Army actually has official video games. I can see how they are used as recruitment tools, and they must be effective, because I know how popular many of these games are. It is a little strange to see a medium that is usually meant for entertainment and escapist purposes being used as a recruitment tool.

I also interested in the passage that dealt with how “story-telling (and fear) can lead people to support things they otherwise would not.” I can see how this is very true. Often times we will forgive a major character for evil deeds when they are done for the “greater good,” or when the character is shown  as ultimately a hero, as the article points out. I think that many examples of this can be found in modern television. In the show “Breaking Bad,” the main character is struggling high school chemistry who resorts to cooking and dealing meth in order to secure his family’s financial future when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Throughout the course of the series, he does all sorts of things of terrible things, including murder. However, through the way the story is told, we still forgive him and empathize with him. Like no quarter states, “Despite his character flaws, readers tend to want him to get away with murder. In the end, forms of redemption operate in both stories that deemphasize the violent acts committed by the central characters.”

Mar 13 2012
Deep Play, Responses

Deep Play Assignment

3. What happens when a game breaks out of representations of violence (Grand Theft Auto) and actually engages (executes) violence (Tekken Torture Tournament)? In what way does representation sensitize or desensitize us to violence vs in what way does play (real enactment) resensitize us? When children play do they ever resort to violence? Can you describe its possible uses?

 

When a game breaks out of representations of violence and engages the player, it helps them “get a glimpse of how games affect us.” It also provides a tangible response to actions made by players in the game. In other words, “the body is now responsible and vulnerable.” Representation can distance us from the violence in the game, but re-enactment can bring us back, especially in the case of Tekken Torture Tournament.

a. Gamers want games that are deeply immersive and engaging. Some game developers want to create games that highlight the relationship between gamers and games, and show how games affect the players. Games like Tekken Torture Tournament cause real consequences for actions within the game.

c. The “Tactile Gaming Vest” is an example. The vest is worn by a player, and produces a response whenever the player is hit by bullets, knives, or explosions in the game.

 

 

Feb 19 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: “denial-of-service attacks”

This isn’t a specific artwork or project, but I know that “denial-of-service” attacks are sometimes used by hacktivism groups to make a certain website unavailable to users. I’m not sure about how a denial-of-service attack works specifically, but it basically leads to a server overload. It’s a crude example of hacktivism for sure, but I thought it would fit because the internet group “Anonymous” has used denial-of-service attacks in the past to bring down websites of organizations of which they find fault with. For example, recently on January 20, 2012, they used denial-of-service attacks on the Department of Justice and FBI websites to call attention to the website Megaupload being shut down.

 

Feb 19 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Edge of Art — Ch. 4

One of my favorite projects from this chapter was “They Rule,” something that we saw earlier in this class before reading Edge of Art. It shows connections between corporations/very powerful people in a very visual and striking way. It’s a great way to use technology to expose something that was possibly previously unnoticed, and I like the quote from Edge of Art that says “once you get enough information in one place, you can draw connections you might not otherwise apprehend.” I love that concept, and I agree that They Rule is a prime example of hacktivism. It uncovered a lot of connections that weren’t as easy to make before They Rule was created, such as the connection between Coke and Pepsi that Edge of Art points out.

 

I like the idea that “hacktivism” can foster an environment where people can make bold political statements safely, and that artists are allowed to cross certain boundaries due to artistic license.

Feb 19 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Edge of Art — Ch 1

I think the most important thing I took from this chapter was the idea of “artistic misuse,” especially since this is a unit on hacktivism. In submitting our intents, it is likely that many of our projects will include a “hack” or misuse of something in order convey a certain message. This chapter focused heavily code as art. In other words, the way in which programmers can purposely misuse code to create something new and innovative. I was struck by the example of Nam Jun Paik installing the magnet on top of a television set to achieve a certain effect. Certainly this is a misuse and a hack on this technology, but it created something completely new. I’ve learned that purposely using things in a way they weren’t meant to be used can be innovative. For example, earlier in this class we watched “As it Happened — A Secret History of Hacking,” where “”phone phreaks” experimented with telephones in ways it wasn’t supposed to be used for, and had never been done before, but it basically lead to computer hacking.

Feb 16 2012
Autobotography, Responses

Response: Cyborg Manifesto

“Cyborg Manifesto”

Honestly, I wanted to understand and get something from this reading, but nearly every bit of it went way over my head. However; I do have a bit to comment on.

“Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert.” I’m not sure where I originally heard this, but I definitely recognize it from somewhere, possibly another New Media course. It’s a striking quote, and I believe it’s relevant to something we often discuss in class. When technology is developed that augments one of our senses, something (one of our other senses, perhaps) is degraded as a result. I think this connects to the aforementioned quote from the Cyborg Manifesto in the way that the machines are becoming “disturbingly lively,” while inversely, we are becoming “frighteningly inert.”

Feb 09 2012
Autobotography, Responses

Modern Living Animations

These animations are an interactive, animated self portrait for Han Hoogerbrugge. At first glance, many of these animations were nonsense to me. However, some make a little sense. For example, the one we watched in class of the man in the water, it has a sadistic quality to it, because it becomes a sort of game to keep him under water. You don’t quite realize that until you’ve been doing it awhile.

 

Another that caught my eye was one called “Angel.” The user controls a cross, which makes a man move around like a puppet. Which, in a way, could be a way to express that some people are “puppets” strung along by religious figures, I suppose.

Jan 27 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: As it Happened

We had an interesting little discussion on the video “As it Happened — A Secret History of Hacking.” One question we discussed that interested me was “what is a scapegoat?” and further, “what does the government use a scapegoat for?” This documentary is interesting in that regard, for example, one of the pioneers of this hacking craze was actually labeled as a “terrorist” by the government. In reality, he was just a bright and talented hobbyist, but he was turned into a scapegoat due to the government calling him a threat and the media bearing a similar message. Since “hacking” was a new thing, many people were misinformed, so it was easy to find a scapegoat in this group of hackers and “phreaks.”

 

This video reminded me of a story on the internet group “Anonymous” a Fox affiliate news channel in LA that aired in 2007. The reporter called the group “hackers on steroids” and “domestic terrorists,” much like the terms used to describe the subjects of “As it Happened.” The activities portrayed in the report are stupid pranks, but I think calling them terrorists just shows that the people working at this news station aren’t completely in touch with technology and the internet. The report is laughable, and can be found here.

 

Jan 24 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Theater of the Oppressed

“Theater of the Oppressed”

 

This article had to do with many different types of theater that can inspire social change. Many of these I had never really heard of or thought of, and I don’t know if anything like this happens in my area. I can see why we would read this after watching “The Yes Men Fix the World” in class. What the “Yes Men” do is basically a similar sort of theater. They either act out things that they wish to happen (like Dow compensating for the Bhopal disaster), or they act out things in a silly way to call attention to how absurd some corporations can be.

I found the aspect of these types of theater using the audience as part of the act to be the most interesting. I can imagine that it is much more engaging for everyone when the spectators are interacting with the actors. In fact, it starts to blur the line between the “spectators” and the “actors.” Which is a main point brought up at the end of the article, that interactive theater can and should “humanize the spectator.”

Although I’ve never seen this type of theater before (to my knowledge), it seems like a good way to work through problems, by examining them visually and physically). Working through problems that way has never really occurred to me, but I was very interested in the “image theater,” where bodies are “sculpted” and language is not even used. It seems like a very different way to express and work out problems. This type of theater, and the others like it, also allow them to examine the many different approaches they could make towards a problem in a safe environment.

The scenario of the man eating the barbecue in the restaurant reminded me of a comedic performance group popular on the internet called “Improv Everywhere.” Improv Everywhere act out rehearsed scenes in public places, and often, the public is very much involved. So, that means that the actors have to be able to adapt to the reactions of the public. So, I suppose that Improv Everywhere act out a sort of Invisible Theater.

 

Jan 23 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Rasta Software

“http://rastasoft.org/”

 

I honestly have no idea what this website is or what exactly I’m meant to do with it. However, I did recognize a forkbomb about halfway down the page.

Jan 23 2012
1 Comment
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Gelder

“How Occupy Wallstreet Changes Everything”

Before reading this article, I’ll admit, I didn’t have much knowledge about the Occupy Wallstreet protests. I was of course aware that it was happening from social news sites like “Reddit.com,” but I really didn’t have any details. I’d also partially forgotten all about it when everything to do with SOPA/PIPA came about and started to overshadow it.

I noticed that this article has some tie-ins to the commencement speech by Pariser. In “How Occupy Wallstreet Changes Everything,” the author explains that, “Our leaders will not fix things for us; we’ll have to do that for ourselves.” This is much like a point that Pariser makes in her speech, that we can’t rely on leaders or so-called “experts.” We have to take on that responsibility ourselves.

This article helped me get a better idea how serious and expansive these Occupy protests have been. Living in Maine, there wasn’t too much activity, and I figured it was similar in other places. However this article showed me that a lot is happening with Occupy in more urban areas. I was most surprised by the novel idea of communicating to many people without amplification. Like the article says, repeating promotes active listening, and there’s no risk breaking any laws against amplification.

Jan 22 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Pariser

“The World Needs You To See It With Fresh Eyes”

 

I think one of the most important points that Pariser is making in her speech is that everybody is capable of making some sort of positive change. You don’t necessarily have to be an expert, in fact, Pariser argues that there really is no such thing as an expert, seeing as we are always learning and there are “unknown unknowns.” I liked her quote, “we each possess the power to change everything.” It’s very empowering. What I took from this article was that you can’t leave things up to the “experts,” you need to go out and actually do something yourself.

Jan 22 2012
Hactivism, Responses

Response: Crosbie

“What is New Media?”

 

We’ve read this before in previous New Media classes. However, it looks like I had forgotten most of this article. At first it really does sound like semantics, but when Crosbie begins to get into the analogy of land, water, and air, it starts to become rather interesting. The analogy was very helpful, especially in expressing how the new medium has both the benefits of the old media without any of the disadvantages that they have. With the new media, content can be individualized and the communication can be more than one-to-one, two disadvantages of one-to-many and 0ne-to-one communication, respectively.

I also like how Crosbie explained that simply displaying old media on technology like the internet does not pass as new media. For example, putting an electronic version of a newspaper online. Like he said, the new media is not necessarily an “electronic extension” of old media.