Chapter 6, Text Principle, Insider Principle

Chapter 6:

Cultural Models

-Images, storylines, principles and metaphors that capture what a group believe to be typical of a particular event or phenomenon.

-Cultural models help learners know how to cope with life and decisions.

-Different cultural groups have different ways of interpreting.

Video games help learners become more aware of their taken-for granted cultural values and help them see how their cultural group views the world, how their group learns how other semiotic groups function, and also reveals how they learn.

Examples:

Sonic vs. Shadow

Good for the group vs. good for the individual

Under Ash

In response to US games post 9/11 where players would shoot Arabs and/or Muslims, this game was played from the Palestinian perspective where anyone who was not a citizen (including US troops) could be shot. Different cultural model that reacted differently to a situation experienced across groups.

War Games

There were two war games; one showed how war heroes should be treated at superhumans and war was glorified, the other showed that war is essentially boring and that “Rambo” actions were most likely to get you killed.

Snake*

This game pushed the author to learn in different ways that he was not accustomed to-instead of going in and shooting everyone/everything he saw, he learned to be more tactical.

Text Principle:

Texts are not understood purely verbally but must incorporate the leaner’s embodied experience. The learner must go back and forth between text and embodied experience to understand the text. Only after the learner has had sufficient embodied experience can they read the text purely verbally. Gee gives the example of reading a game manual-you can read the text but not necessarily understand it. After you have played the game and have had more experience in searching through the manual can you come to a better understanding of the instructions given in it.

Insider Principle

The learner is an insider, teacher and producer, not just a consumer. Their knowledge allows them to change their learning experience and domain/game from the beginning and to the end.

Principle 6 and 24, psychosocial moratorium and incremental learning, and chapter 4

by Dennis Decker

Principle 6 is the psychosocial moratorium principle. This means good learning takes place in an environment where the consequences of mistakes are lowered, so that learners are not afraid to try different things.

In video games this comes through having multiple lives or from being able to save and load a game as often as needed. A non-game example is a brainstorming session, where participants are told there are no wrong ideas so that they feel comfortable contributing to the group.

Principle 24: Incremental learning principle. Challenges or learning tasks are presented so that the learner can draw conclusions that will be helpful in later situations. For example, if I learn that blue doors have to be opened with blue keys, and yellow doors with yellow keys, then when I see a red door I will start looking for a red key.

A non-game example could be in a science classroom, where students learn that ice and water are the same substance arranged differently. Later, when they see salt crystals dissolve into water, they would assume that the salt hasn't disappeared, instead it has changed state.

Chapter 4 is about situated learning. Gee makes the point that all information is only useful if it has meaning in a certain context. For example, in one game he came across a set of numbers that little meaning for him. Later he found an object that required a numerical code to open. Suddenly the numbers had meaning and became useful to him.

He argues that learning in educational situations needs to be situated in the student's experiences. He says it is foolish to expect students to learn abstractions that they cannot relate to their experience--and it makes the students feel foolish as well.

Situational learning also suggests that people start with specific examples and move to generalizations, instead of the other way around.

Principles 5&23, Chapter 4

Principle 5 - Metalevel Thinking and Learning in Semiotic Domains
- Active thinking and learning of the relationship between different semiotic domains. One semiotic domain can be used as a precursor to another domain. What has been learned in one domain can be used towards learning and thinking in a new semiotic domain.

Principle 23 - Subert Principle
- Learning starts in the subert to the real domain. In a video game the first couple of levels are used to get you familiar with the game and how is works - these are the subert levels to the actual game. It is similar to learning the fundamentals before you can be apart of any domain or group.

Chapter 4
-Humans learn from past experiences by making connections and associations to other things. They edit and categorize these experiences according to interests, goals, and values.

-Different forms to present information: Situated, Experiential, Embodied.
-Situated: Signs (words, actions, ) change according the embodied form that they are in. Such things in one game or situation will have completely different meaning to another game or group.
-Experiential: Similar to the scientific method - Probe, Hypothesize, Re-probe, Rethink/Accept. You start by probing, trying different things, figuring out what works and what doesn't. Then according to what you have learned you make a hypothesis of how to move forward in the game. Then you test it - start re-probing. If it works then you accept your hypothesis, if it doesn't work then you rethink your method and try again.
-Embodied: This is used the get the player more involved to create a place where they are able to make the decisions and control the direction of the game. They are given options to "choose their own adventure" in a sense.
-Video games reach humans in a different way than books, or movies can by using these forms to make the player more active in how the story will end.

Chapter 5

Two games are used to discuss Gee's concepts: the first being "Tomb Raider" (and incidentally the first portion of the chapter), the second being "After Shock" (the second portion).

The first portion of the book talks about starting at a basic 'tutorial' level, where the player is protected and is given minimal instructions for how to play the game. Although not explicitly mentioned in his learning principles, in Tomb Raider, the player is encouraged to be deviant from the game's instructions, and explore, as they are rewarded by finding items throughout the level which they wouldn't if they were to adhere strictly to the instructions. Learning is also incremental, as the level of difficulty of each level progressively rises.

A transition takes place where Gee discusses 'transfer,' that is, when one uses their prior knowledge from a different situation and applies it to a new situation. This might be dodging an enemies' bullets (like you would in James Bond GoldenEye) and doing the same in say, Medal of Honor.

The second portion talks about how learning throughout the game is distributed, that is, bits of information are spread throughout levels (such as information kiosks with explicit information). The player then combines this knowledge with prior knowledge of how to play the game and comes up with creative ways to solve the game (which touches on the Discovery Principle).

-Chandler Krynen

Chapter 1: Introduction; principles 8 & 26

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning & Literacy

Chapter 1: 36 Ways to Learn a Video Game

By his own description, James Paul Gee is an educator and researcher, a "linguist interested in language and literacy," and particularly in how we learn. Observing his young son play a video game with what seemed to be an extraordinarily high level of sophistication, he became fascinated with the multi-strata processes of learning that occur in video games and made it a pet project.

Gee explores 36 different learning principles, with the objective of exploring and revealing the power and potential of human learning in sophisticated digital platforms. He refers to the socio-economic phenomenon that Marx dubbed "the Creativity of Capitalism," to explain that when a game--or any learning environment--is well-designed, the learner is voluntarily (and often intensely) engaged, challenged, and progressing quickly. Consequently, "good" games beget more good games, in a progressive pattern of length, levels, and sophistication. (It's important to note that Gee defines a "good game" as effective in competencies like supporting learners on the edge of their "regime of competence;" good does not imply a moral or ethical judgment on a game.) Education, technology, arts, and free enterprise become powerful partners in digital gaming.


Principle 8: The Identity Principle

Video games inherently present a tripartite identity challenge to participants: These three identities are (1) the player's real world identity, (2) their virtual identity, and (3) their projective identity, and learning occurs in interaction with and through all three.

Gee explains that the projective identity is the most complex of the three--and "projective" can be understood via different meanings of the word project: Project, as in the image and identity that one is striving to "put out there," or also project, as in a something one is working on and developing.


Principle 26: The "Bottom-Up" Basic Skills Principle

This principle illustrates that basic skills acquisition in video games is not a matter of practice drills and conscious, deliberate repetition. Repetition in skills acquisition exists in video games as well, but in a well-designed digital gaming environment, the basic skills are learned in an immersion experience, starting from the "bottom-up" and building on one skill set with another. Basic skills in video gaming belong to the genre of game. Gee points out that by the time a gamer becomes aware of what the basic skills required for a particular game are, he has already mastered them.

326 Midterm, fountain of knowledge

Chapter 3: This chapter focuses on Gee's experience witht he game Arcanium. He played as a character called Bead Bead a half-elf female who had several abilities such as intelligence and persuation that made her different than the other characters in the game. Gee spoke about three forms of identity: real, virtual, and projected. Real indentity refers to his identity as James Gee, in the real world as a video game player playing as Bead Bead. His values, memories, and personality are all part of this identity. His virtual identity is that of Bead Bead, the half-elf female. Her abilities and the way she interacts in the virtual world in which she dwells is her identity, yet also it is Gee's virtual identity as this magical creature. The projected identity that Gee speaks about is the link between his real and virtual identities. Although he does seem to lose himself in the virtual identity of Bead Bead, his real identity can't help but project itself on the motivations and actions of the virtual character. Gee is trying to arrive at the point that when we play video games, we are never separate from outselves in our virtual worlds. We may have a character that we act as, but we are still ourselves and our identities will be translated onto that character. Thus, Gee sees the virtual world of gaming as something we attempt to lose ourselves in, but can't ever truly do so.

Design Principle- Learning about and coming to appreciate design and design principles is core to the learning experience. This principle focuses on two aspects of semiotic domians: Design grammars in both the internal and external sense. Internal design grammar means the principles and patterns in terms of which one can recognize what is and what is not acceptable or typical content in a semiotic domain. External design grammar is the principles and patterns of which one can recognize what is and what is not an acceptable or typical social practice and identity in regard to the affinity group associated with a semiotic domain. Ex: modern art and what counts as modern art= internal. The social practices of those who are in the field of modern art would be the external design. Being able to identitfy games as first person shooters is internal design grammar, yet the social aspect of discussing the games themselves and the public’s understanding of them in the external design grammar.

Multimodal Principle: Meaning and knowledge are built up through various modalities (images, words, symbols, interactions, designs, sounds,) not just words. The multimodal principle is concerned with the fact (clear in all of the discussions about video games in this book so far) that, in video games, meaning, thinking, and learning are linked to multiple modalities (words, images, actions, sounds) and not just to words. Sometimes, at a particular point in a game, multiple modalities support each other to communicate similar meanings, sometimes they communicate different meanings, each of which fits together to form a larger, more meaningful and satisfying whole. For example, the sounds that the game produces indicates the danger of a situation along with what is seen and the emoitons you connect with the moment. Learning is not simply achieved through words and description but with the connection made to the moment of interest.

Jared's Contribution

14. Regime of Competence Principle -- This principle deals with the idea that video game players or learners in school are playing or learning at a level that is at the edge of what they are capable of. Many times, advanced students coast in school because what the are asked to do is so within what they are capable of that it requires no effort. Other times, students are asked to perform at a level that is so beyond what they can do at the time that they fail. In both cases minimal learning takes place. This principle is about being challenged, but still being able to succeed. In good video games this happens and the players enjoy the challenge and learning through discovery that takes place.

32. Cultural Models about Semiotic Domains Principle -- This principle is that in video games and in learning our cultural models with respect to a certain semiotic domain can be challenged or questioned without making us feel bad about our beliefs or abilities. As a result, we can consider different cultural models outside our own.

Chapter 6 -- Principle 32 comes from this chapter in the book. This chapter deals with cultural models. Remember the quiz we took in class where we made the distinction between a group model and a more general model? The chapter talks about a kid playing Sonic and when he is the dark, bad Sonic, named Shadow, that character becomes the good guy to the player. That is an example of a group model because you are working on the side of Shadow and the bad guys and you feel good when you are successful for that group. It is not about general principles of good and bad. The chapter also talks about video games where you are a young mobster and are trying to earn your status within that group. Although crime is generally bad, for that group it is good.

This chapter also discusses cultural models, which are how we look at the world. Cultural models are based on things and experiences out in the world. They are not just in our heads. They are based off of the different groups we are a part of, like church, school, family, socioeconomic class, country, culture, and profession. They are not right or wrong. We can be exposed to them and even adopt them in games without having to adopt them in real life. They can be good because they allow us to interact with the world, but they can be bad if they cause us to denigrate ourselves when we otherwise wouldn't. An example of this is an working class American who believes in the American Dream and since he is not wealthy believes that he is not working hard enough or is not smart enough. In another cultural model, he may not feel this way.

This chapter also talks about how schools use cultural models. In science, we are taught that in ideal circumstances an object will not move or it will move at a constant speed. However, the world is not ideal. It has friction and gravity, resulting in objects that do not keep to this ideal. the same thing happens in economics when we make models showing what will happen assuming consumers act rationally. However, consumers do not always behave rationally and as a result modifications have to be made to these models.

That's the point. These ideal models serve as a starting point and then we can make modifications to them. Our cultural models also serve as a starting point for the way we look at the world an then they can be challenged by the models of others and we can decide whether or not to modify our own model. This is the basis of principle 32 -- that our models can be challenged in a non-threatening way in both video games and learning.

#7 and #25 and Chp 5

#7 Committed Principle

When the player is able to connect to character in a certain video game realm, that the players identity is able to connect to the fictional characters identity in that specified realm. Gee cites his connection with character Bead Bead. She is everything he is not (i.e. she is a female he is not, she has long beautiful head of hair he doesn't have as much); though the character is not everything he is it still reflects a part of his identity in a video game realm of his choosing.


#25 Concentrated Sample Principle
Gee explains that Lara Croft is able to gather and learn more sometimes by disobeying what Von Croy has to say. For instance Gee cites his own personal with Lara Croft, the experience of when he is told to jump across the raven and instead fall into it accidentally discovering crystal skull. This principle works in that effect, in which it allows the learner to deviate from the structured lesson and allows them to learn and explore the concept on their own terms. Similar to Lara Croft and her discovery's of the crystal skulls by at times not following her mentor Von Croy.

Chapter 5

Identity of one's player in relation to the player.
Active learning, participation in a certain activity that applies that concept being taught. Gee gives the example of a science class. Stating that some students work well when verbally given instructions as opposed to some who work better in a structured active learning environment.

Principles 1, 19 and ch. 4- Lee Adams

1. Active Learning Principle- The learning environment fcilitates active and critical, not passive, learning

19. Intertextual Principle- The learner understands a text based on the family of texts that it is associated with. The text is only understood in this context because of the embodied experience the learner has with other texts and is able to interpret based off of other previous experiences.

Chapter 4- Situated Meaning and Learning

Gee discusses Deus Ex in this chapter and refers to it regularly

He introduces the concept of embodied experience (meaning the body, mind, and outside experience)

Stories are different in video games. They are a mix of four factors:
1.the designer's choices
2. the players choices tat affect the order in which the storyline takes place
3. the main character's choices within the game
4. imagination projected onto the characters, plot, the world of the story

Situated meaning in the context of the chapter
- the numbers you find in the game are general (decontextualized) and gain a situated meaning once you find out that they are the key code to a safe.

Critics say that it works in video games, but what about real life, like education?
- discussion of concept of democracy: people can use terms in various ways and until the reader is able to situate the meaning, a word is nothing but letters.
-Students are taught general information
-educators say that not every principle needs to be contextualized because not all the information will be pertinent for every student, but Gee retorts that in order for any leatning to take place, it must be embodied in at least some way, if not in the context of a future profession.

Situational Meaning and Embodied experience in real life-
Galileo's principle of motion was taught generally and then with a computer program in which the students were able to modify aspects of the program and thereby give meaning to the principle.

Gee talks about the way video games make us situate meaning
-Probe
-Hypothesis
-Reprobe
-Rethink

Written Text
Teachers were given game manuals and couldn't understand them.
They did not play the game and until they did, they would not be able to situate the meaning.

AXEL-1) SITUATED MEANING PRINCIPLE, 2) AFFINITY GROUP PRINCIPLE, and 3) Chapter 6 (CULTURAL MODES)

1) The Situated Meaning Principle

The meaning of signs (e.g. words, actions, objects, symbols, texts) are situated in bodily experience. The meaning is not general or uncontextualized. For example, the meaning of a word is learned by seeing how it interacts within the text we are reading. We do not look up the word in a dictionary where we get a general, out of context meaning.

2) The Affinity Group Principle

Learners that are part of an "Affinity Group" join together because of shared endeavors, goals, and practices, and not because of shared race, nation, ethnicity, culture, etc. In other words, this is not a Cultural Group, or a National Group, or an Ethnic Group. It is and "Affinity Group" because they share the same goals and accomplish them together.

Chapter 6: Cultural Models

The main term to know about this chapter is what a Cultural Model is. It is a tacit, taken for granted theory or way of thinking that we subscribe to because we want to be like other members of our Social Groups. For example, an LDS member would (though not necessarily), probably subscribe to the LDS Cultural Model that marriage between a man and a woman is the correct marriage.

He talks about the Sonic the Hedgehog game and explains that video games challenge us to think about our Cultural Models. In the Sonic game, you are able to play as the Good Sonic, or the Bad Shadow Sonic. His son made the comment, "In this game, the bad guy is the good guy." The point was that the bad guy becomes the protagonist and the player need to momentarily adopt the Cultural Models of a bad person who wants to destroy the world.

He also talks about Under Ashes (I think that's the name) where you play as a Muslim militant fighting against Israelis. Normally, you find Mulsums as the bad guys in video games, but this game challenges our Cultural Models. We come to think differently about things (it creates a conflict of Models within us), and we are likely not to be able to kill Muslims in video games in the future without thinking about it.

The last, perhaps most important point is the one about teaching at school. Because students taking physics have, through their own experience, subscribed to the Cultural Model that things that move in this world are being propelled by something, find it hard to understand Plato's theory that what is in motion stays in motion without any force acting upon it whatsoever. He makes the point that a good teacher will not tell students that they are stupid for not understanding, but that they should understand that their Cultural Model does not work for physics and that they need to be open to learning other Models.

Chapter 5 first half and Principles 12 and 30

The first half of chapter five talks about Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. The principles that are discussed are ideas about overt information vs. self-discovery. Basically, Gee talks about how people need both to have information given to them, and to have the opportunity to learn on their own. If we do not give students some information, it is like asking them to re-discover geometry, something that early mathematicians didn't even have to do on their own.

Gee also discusses the idea that they start out in a tutorial type of learning in a game and then they gain a set of skills that they can use throughout the rest of the game.

Learning Principle 12: Practice Principle

This is the principle that students can learn in an engaging environment (such as a game where learning is fun and they experience constant success) and they spend a long time on task.

Learning Principle 30: Converting our World Models

This is the principle that our current thought patterns (or "models") can and should be challenged in learning and that this can be done in games where we can overcome certain patterns of thinking we've become used to. One example is when Gee was playing Lara Croft and he follows everything the doctor says, until he messes something up and discovers it is actually better for him to disobey the Dr. That makes him more like Lara and more successful in this certain situation. He learns not to just listen to everything someone says.

Principles 9 and 27

Principle 9: "Self Knowledge Principle"

This states that as we play a game, we come to learn more about ourselves by playing that game.

Principle 27: "Explicit Information On-Demand and Just in Time Principle"

This principle states that bits of information are provided throughout the game precisely when they are needed, as well as being obvious. For example, a player might need to know how to jump over a hole, and at that moment, instructions are given for how to do it (say, press the 'x' button). The author uses this in relation to After Shock, where information kiosks are dispersed throughout the game, each having information immediately pertinent to where the player is located in the game.

-Chandler Krynen

Chapter 5. Principle 14 & 31.

Here we go!

Chapter 5 "Learning and Doing"

Chapter 5 is the Lara Croft Chapter. Although there are other games mentioned, most of the principles can be applied to Lara Croft.

You are given background information at the beginning of the game. In the first episode you are challenged to learn basic concepts through different learning principles. The professor gives instructions it what may seem like a foreign language but when applied to controllers or computer keyboards the player can understand how to run, jump, or attack within the game. Even though the professor has told Lara to stay close the player cannot meet Lara's full potential unless she deviates and finds the skulls. By deviating she learns skills she will need to use later in the game.

Tomb Raider shows that learners need to be given easier tasks in the beginning in order to grasp the basic tasks and key strokes. The chapter also discusses the advantage to learning in context. By using the subdomain of the first chapter the player learns how to control Lara within the context of the overall domain. The learning process is all within the domain. For example students cannot learn from textbooks alone. In a science class the students will learn from experimenting with trial and error. This concept leads to the idea that the instructor should not leave students to learn on their own. This causes students to make generalities that may lead to many failures. Without guidance students then get frustrated and give up. Students learn best when guided to learn new things. Guidance enables them to see fruitful outcomes.

The transfer method is also discussed within this chapter. By using his own experience with Shock 2, Gee discusses how he defeated a harder target to kill by using techniques from other games. Transferring knowledge from one domain to another enables learners to experiment with learning. A method of defeating in one game may not work in another game but by trying you discover new methods. He explains that it was when he was trying to transfer one method in he discovered a hiding place in the game. The ability to quickly change your strategy and be flexible will also allow players to create new modes of learning.

Bottems up! The chapter discusses the method of learning controls in games in the first episode. This is where the player can be with in the domain but comfortable enough to learn new things. As the game progresses the player begins to receive more difficult tasks and can change their method to fit the need of the challenge.

Concentrate. No not orange juice. The first episode has a concentrated amount of learning. Tasks are repeated for better understanding and there are different ways to accomplish the same task, this enables the player to learn in different ways and learn by repetition.

Just in time. Another way of learning, included in this chapter, is being given information just as it is needed. This allows the player/learner to incorporate the information just given to them and use it in a situation immediately. Instead of learning the how to accomplish a task you won't use until the end of the game the player is given instructions and then is to use them as their next assignment/task.

Principle 14
"Regime Competence" principle
Students need to learn within their ability to accomplish the task but on the outside edge. By staying too far within the students ability they become routinized and are not flexible to learn new things and methods. By staying outside of their ability the student will continually fail and then give up. By staying within, but on the outside edge, students learn to use any failed attempts as learning possibilities and are able to stretch their learning capabilities.

Principle 31
Cultural Modality about Learning Principle
Here learners are functioning within their culture and are comfortable to learn new things. By doing this they are learning and may not even know it. Even though the student is failing they are learning new strategies and when they do not know they are learning the task becomes fun.

Chapter 2, Dispersed Principle and Multiple Routes Principle

Learning Principles: 16 & 34

Multiple-Routes Principle: There are multiple ways to make progress or move ahead. With respect to video games, a user typically has multiple ways to accomplish a video game mission or task. Users are not forced to move forward in a single uniform manner, instead they can choose their route based on their own preference or learning ability. This learning principle is important because learners are able to use a learning manner that best fits their style. They are able to use their strengths to learn material instead of conform to a uniform learning method. This principle also allows for introspection on the best style of learning for the individual.

Dispersed Principle: A learner may share his or her findings with other people that they may or may not ever come in contact with. When video game users makes a website with cheat codes and game hints, they are "dispersing" their learning to others. In this system, knowledge does not reside with one single individual or solely in the mind of another, knowledge is a network of ideas, or a community.

Chapter 2

Gee raises the argument that many believe video games to be a waste of time. His discussion of learning and literacy argue against this statement and show that video games are not a waste of time, they simply are another form of literacy.

He begins by discussing the concept of literacy. Because of school, we basically associate literacy with reading and writing; being able to read and write the English language. The author points out that literacy stretches far beyond this traditional scope. Literacy also involves the interpretation of visual images, signs, symbols and even sound to really understand the intention of a work. Furthermore, we don't simply learn "something". To understand something we must apply it to a semiotic domain which is a group that attaches meaning to words and symbols.

For example to understand, "The point guard dribbled the ball up the court and passed it to the center" one must be able to understand the semiotic domain of basketball. The word "dribble" in the context of basketball does not mean "to drool" and "center" does not mean "the middle point". So in order to be literate one must apply knowledge to a symiotic domain.

We we learn a semiotic domain we become part of an affinity group and we are able to recognize "outsiders" of this domain.

Basically Gee's conclusion is video games are another learned symiotic domain. A video game user takes part and learns and becomes literate through an active process. They must use principles of video games just as writers must learn grammar to write a functioning novel. Video games actively learn in three ways:

1. They experience

2. They become a part of a social group or affinity group

3. They build a foundation for further learning.

The question them becomes a debate over whether or not people think video games are a valuable semiotic domain to learn. Obviously Gee believes good video games are not a waste of time because they spark learning and literacy.

Principles: Probing and Distributed. Chapter 2

Probing Principle - Probing principle refers to where a person does something, sees the affect, then makes a hypothesis about the action. Then the person 're probes' or experiments with the action again, and then either confirms the result or forms a new hypothesis. It's a trial an error system to see what works best in a given situation. The Pikmin game: which Pikmin worked best in each situation? Yellow, Blue or Red?

Distributed Principle - Knowledge is stored not only by the person, but also by the tools, technology, and other people available to that person. An example is like what we did in class last time. Each group took a section of the book and discussed it, then we separated into groups that studied different sections. We then shared our information with each other. Not one of us knew the entire whole picture, but combined we did. (Like a jigsaw puzzle).

Chapter 2 Stuff -

In chapter 2, Gee discussed whether or not video gaming was a waste of time. According to Gee, video games help to produce an active learning environment where the player can choose to either actively learn or passively play. Passive playing is a waste of time, however, when we actively learn, we increase our ability to solve problems.
Another thing taught by Gee in this chapter is Semiotic Domain. In a given context a word can have different meanings. For example, "light" can mean waves or particles, which allow us to see, or when something is not heavy. Depending on a situation, each word can hold multiple meanings. This also deals with groups. People belonging in certain sub-cultures can interpret and understand who is 'in' and who is 'not in.' This is because each 'insider' understands his/her mode of creating and interpreting language, symbols, and graphics. For example, someone who belongs to the 'First-person-shooter' group, they understand the differences between each shooter game, and know how to classify what belongs to 'their' category. Someone might be able to tell you all the first-person-shooter games ever made, but that doesn't mean they can necessarily know what that means.

Chapter 2; Principle 10; Principle 28

Principle 10
Amplification of input Principle
-A little bit of input, a lot of output (IE. Driving a car: push the pedal lightly, car accelerates forward)
-This is a motivated form of learning especially when greater output leads to greater success/rewards.
-Video games that track achievements use this principle. The more effort or time you spend playing the game the greater your achievements are.

Principle 28
Discovery Principle
-Overt telling is kept to a minimum so that there is room for the user to explore, make discoveries and learn on their own.
-Search, develop a thesis, test thesis, re-evaluate thesis.
-This is a key principle of adventure video games where a character is left on its own to explore the environment and tell its own story.

Chapter 2:
New Way to Communicate:
Language is not the only way to communicate. There are different ways to use signs, themes, and symbols to portray meaning. These visual symbols are extremely significant. Images and text can be used together to give more meaning or different meanings to a certain message. Being able to "read images" helps one better understand. There are different genres of print literacy IE Newspaper, comic book, rap etc. Symbols can mean different things as well to different people.

Semiotic Domains:
An area where people think, act or value in certain ways. These semiotic domains have certain affinity groups, or insiders who know what is going on, and one must come to understand the symbols, themes and cultures of these affinity groups to understand the domain.

Problem of Content:
Important information is generally thought to be obtained in the intellectual sense and "meaningless play" is not viewed as a way to learn. Video games fall under the "meaningless play" category and are therefore not seen as a beneficial avenue to learn.

New Form of Learning:
One must decide which domain is being used. Is the domain valuable? Is the domain being used to understand (read)? Or is the domain being used to produce (write)?

Learning a new Semiotic Domain:
When one learns a new domain they experience (see, feel, operate) it. The provide themselves an opportunity to join this new affinity group and become a part of a group. Information learned will help in the future with the domain as well as in related domains.

Situated Meanings:
Meanings (symbols, sings, themes) can be specific to certain domains and not in general. Domains can also be views internally and externally. Internally would actually be what is going on in the game. If it is a first-person shooter than how the character operates and uses weapons to fight enemies can be seen as the internal view. The external view would be the actual people or affinity groups that use the domain.

1. Active Critical Learning Principle
2. Design Principle
3. Semiotic Domain Principle
4. Semiotic Design Principle
5. Metaleval Thinking

Chapter 3 and Material Intelligence Principle and Semiotic Principle

Chapter 3: Discusses the relationship between the physical living player and the digital/virtual player. The relationship is made by what the player and the virtual player know. They each bring their own values, morals, abilities, and such with them. For instance, if I'm not good at playing Zelda, then my character will be handicapped as well. Gee gave the example of Bead Bead being invited to a brothel. She decided to go, but because he was previously Catholic he didn't want her to go. Their values differed there.

It also discusses the three things that must be present for a person to learn. 1. they must try to learn 2. they must put in the effort to learn 3. they need to see some kind of success come from the effort that they've made.

"Material Intelligence" Principle: this is the idea that you have all of this knowledge stored in different tools, technologies, people and you can use it when you need to, but you also have space to acquire new knowledge that does not affect your stored knowledge.

Semiotic Principle: Learning and appreciating the interrelations of sign symbols. Complex symbols are core to the learning experience.

Chelsea Chandler

Chapter 1, Transfer Principle, and Achievement Principle

Chapter Summary:

In chapter 1, the introduction, Gee argues that video games have a profound impact on our society as well as our social identities. Gee argues that when we read a book, journal article, or even a billboard, we never read in general; moreover, we always learn something when we read. The same can be applied to video games, meaning that when we play, we are actively and, in some cases, critically learning. Gee also argues that his book is about human learning and trying to implement that learning with good video games. He also argues that the most successful practices and principles of learning in a video game are closely aligned to his own views and theories.

1) Transfer Principle - We are given ample opportunities to apply a skill we've learned in the past to a new set of problems; moreover, new problems can manipulate our learning of a previous principle. In all, Gee argues that good video games can help students to learn new principles that can be applied to any other problem, whether it be in the virtual world or the social world. Also, when someone is faced with a new problem, for example a problem needing to be solved in the real world, learners can draw upon principles they learn in a game to solve that problem. However, Gee does not say that the transfer principle is useful in all cases. For example, if a student solves a problem in a biology class and then tries to apply the same skills and principles learned in solving that problem to a social class, the solution may not be so fitting or may even be disastrous.

2) Achievement Principle - All people, from differing intelligences, skill levels, and age, are given intrinsic rewards that signal a person's success. Gee argues that one aspect that makes a horrible video game is a faulty or minimalist reward system. Players, and even people in social domains, look at a video game for the rewards they can give, such as a level 80 Paladin or a special sword that can be attained if they play a certain quest. Gee also mentions how the achievement principle works in our own lives. For example, when we are awarded properly for our work, it only makes us want to work harder. In classrooms today, teachers teach by remediation and repetition, often with disastrous consequences. Video games that give good achievement to those who have worked hard would solve this problem in the classroom.

Chapter 4, Principles 4 & 22

Jake Clayson

Chapter 4

Gee starts out defending embodied learning where students treat knowledge as an intricate, ever changing network of experiences and impressions. He contrasts this with the traditional (and in his opinion, erroneous) view that knowledge resides as a collection of facts, like a database in a computer.

Because learning occurs most naturally and most profitably when engaged in an embodied way, this requires meaning to be situated (placed in a specific context). Gee contends that video games are able to situate meaning differently than books or movies.

In all three of these examples(books, movies and video games), a story contextualizes, situates, or embodies the information in varying degrees to allow embodied learning to take place. In books and movies, the learner is presented with the authors choices regarding the the information presented and is able to imaginatively project meaning in response. Between these two components, video games introduce two new opportunities. The learner (or gamer) is able to choose how the author's choices unfold, and is then able to choose how he will respond to those choices in an active way. These enhance the embodied learning experience.

Once meaning has been situated, the learner engages in a 4-part cycle.

1. probe- explore the environment
2. hypothesize- just like the scientific method
3. reprobe- experiment on your hypothesis
4. rethink- evaluate

As the learner/gamer engages in this way, he develops appreciation systems which indicate whether or not the way things play out are good or bad. Though this all constitutes active learning, it may not be critical learning.

Critical learning requires the learner/gamer to compare one appreciation system to another and project what a game should be or do.

Embodied learning also includes Principle 22 (see below)

PRINCIPLE 4: The Semiotic Domain Principle

- Learning requires the mastery of semiotic domains, at some level, and the ability to engage in the affinity group, at some level.

PRINCIPLE 22: Intuitive Knowledge Principle

- Intuitive or tacit knowledge gained through extensive experience and practice is honored, valued, and rewarded, not just conscious verbal knowledge. (i.e. Mendel, the father of modern science of genetics may have failed the exam to become a high school biology teacher, but the tacit knowledge gained through his work in his garden is rightfully honored and rewarded)

Ring Ring...

The earliest memory that I can recall of in terms of using some sort of digital new technology device would have to be my first cell phone. Being the eldest and attending a school that wasn't in my district my parents decided that the best way to keep tabs on my would be to get me a cell phone. I still remember what it looked liked, this blue/black box of a thing with a green screen. I think it even had an antenna., it was a hand me down type of phone that my father had owned.

The purpose of the cell phone was so that my mom wouldn't freak out as much about me taking a long time to get home. My high school was located in Downtown LA and I have to take the city's public transportation to get home which took about an hour in total. Typically my mom would call me as soon as school let out, I would then proceed to walk and talk to my bus stop. After riding for about 25 minutes to stop number 2, I would have to call her back to assure her that I was still alive and then as I boarded the second bus tell her I was on my way home.

My mom was always calling me trying to find out where I was, if I was on my way home or just trying to catch up with me on how my day went she used the cell phone as a way to keep tabs on me and make sure that I was where I supposedly said I was going.

Another first memory with the cell phone would have to be texting. It was a faster, simpler way to inform my mom that I forgot my soccer cleats for practice or a project for a class. Texting was also a discrete way to talk to so it became a new way to communicate not only with my mom but with other people as well. I would text friends to avoid homework or text my dad to find out information I may need. Texting was a whole new world that opened up to me and allowed me to communicate with friends when I was bored and exchange ideas on papers or something of that nature.

I still text a copious amount each day. I actually prefer texting than actual phone calls. The things is I run out of things to mention or talk about with her after about five minutes. My mom and I text more than we talk. In a typical week we will have texted over 50 messages and actually have talked on the phone for less than 20. Same with my dad. Texting is a preferred way of texting being that each of us lead busy lives and live in differed time zones. Texting just makes life that much easier.

The idea of the cell phone still plays huge role in my life today. I am updated about certain news ongoings, sports especially (I am a huge sports fan and continuously get updates about my favorite teams and any other sports news happenings), twitter updates, google and of course normal people. Having a cell phone that was the size of a brick to a smaller size brick (blackberry) which helps me keep my life a little more organized being that serves not only as a phone but an organizer. The advancements of cell phone technology make it difficult for us to live without them. The changes and further developments of the cell phone not only as a phone but as a constant companion one that we feel naked and abandoned without.

The early years

I came home one Saturday after spending the night at my cousin’s house to find my own home abuzz with excitement. I went into the back room and found my parents and siblings gathered around the newest addition to our family: a big, boxy computer the color of grandma’s support hose. It was 1994; I was eight, almost nine, years old and didn’t know anybody else, besides my techie uncle, who had a computer at home. I must have spent hours at that computer, mostly waiting for pages to load, printing off pictures of my favorite ice skaters and reading about Outer Space on Encarta. Encarta, more than any other program or game, was by far my favorite. I spent a lot of time devouring facts and new bits of information and it was because of this program that my interest in space was fueled into an obsession. I was 11 years old and I remember sitting in my grandma’s computer room in her basement and telling her about my dream to go to Space Camp. She suddenly turned around, connected to the internet, and after the familiar dial tone and beeps of the modem connecting, she went to the Space Camp website and signed me up.
The following summer, when I was 12, my dream of going to Space Camp, a dream that had been burning since the first time I read an article on space travel on Encarta, was realized.
I’m nearly 24 years old and most of my life has involved some sort of technology. When I was little, I got to go to work with my Grandma while my parents made hospital visits with my little sister who had some health problems. I would watch my Grandma work for hours on her computer, marveling at its magic screen. After a few years, my family got their own computer where lots of time was spent learning and playing instructional games. One of the best days was when my dad brought home “Flight Simulator” for the computer, complete with a joystick that looked like the ones pilots use. I remember multiple instances where my siblings and I would be gathered around as my dad ‘flew’ over computer-simulated landscapes, marveling at the technology and begging for a turn. When I got to elementary school, going to the computer lab became a part of our weekly curriculum. In my younger years at school, we mostly played with Paintshop, but as we got older, our teachers started making us do typing exercises, with the occasional reward of a game of “Oregon Trail.” When I entered the 9th grade, I took a typing class. I hated that class with a fiery passion, but in the end it helped me become a fast and proficient typer and ultimately, a better computer user. Over the course of high school, I became very familiar and comfortable with computers and began exploring what the Internet had to offer. During my senior year, I started a blog on Xanga. My friends and I would update our posts pretty regularly and even began collaborating on short stories. I think it was at this time that I really became aware of my identity in the online sphere and where I fit in. I was no longer just an observer of Internet activity; I was taking part in a growing discussion, creating new texts and adding information to the web. I learned how to navigate the web and how to determine the credibility of a site. I don’t know if there was ever one day where I woke up and realized I knew the Internet; instead, it feels like something that is an intrinsic and instinctual skill. By playing around and exploring the functions of my computer and various programs, I learned how to identify problems and fix them. The sharpening of these problem solving skills have, more than anything else, made becoming familiar with other technologies amazingly simple.

DRAFT: Back to the Future

Back to the Future: A Non-Traditional Student

When I returned as a “non-traditional” student this year after an 18-year absence, I didn’t expect to feel particularly advantaged. I’d logged a lot of time in the small-business and business writing world, so I knew I wasn’t arriving entirely unprepared. The fascinating fun part is the sudden view that has opened for me: a crystal-clear contrast of my own digital “then-and-now” is unmistakable in a student context. In every other life aspect, the gradual, thorough digital saturation has been so steady and uninterrupted that it feels seamless. In school, today becomes juxtaposed with how I did it before—and the chasm is revealed.

Thankfully, business (as well as my own interests) has kept me technologically engaged, so I haven’t struggled to bridge a basic skills gap. I have a theory that the only way we get out-moded is by being so attached to how we are used to doing something that we forfeit the opportunity to explore anything else—new things and old alike. They say the old railroad owners went bankrupt because they believed they were in the railroad business, but they had customers because they were in the transportation business. They were unwilling to evolve as a transportation industry. But I wonder if out-moding can go either way: an unwillingness to move forward surely stymies us, but discarding an earlier human skill-set because we think we’ve “evolved” beyond needing it may be just as treacherous. My first child is almost old enough to be my classmate, so it’s interesting for me to hear young adults talk about their grandparents sympathetically, that it’s sad how they have no life, given how severely digital-communication-impaired they are. I’ve often been reminded of a great quotation I once read: When I was a youth, I was impressed by people who are clever. I am older now, and I’m impressed by people who are kind. [cite speaker] (complete this thought.)

Of course, I’ve had a couple of Back to the Future moments, like when a student employee noticed that I’d written down an office location incorrectly. She helpfully explained, “Um, FYI, I’m pretty sure there’s no building on campus called the ELWC.” I told her that when she was in pre-K, the WSC was the ELWC. And BTW, BYU used to be in the WAC, before it was the MWC. But that was even before the MOA was TBA.

I’m not usually unsettled by change, but for nostalgic reasons, it was still fun to discover that some things are the same: the carillon bells, the Tuesday devotionals and the bookstore candy counter remain as constant as planetary fixtures. Other things have changed so much they are almost unrecognizable. The re-engineered Harold B. Lee Library is remarkable in every way, but the most notable difference in the HBLL since 1991 is easy to spot: Today, it has about 350 more computers available for student use.

My first season at BYU was from 1988 to 1991, on the cusp of the digital tide. We were just beginning to glimpse that new communication technologies would soon become an all-access party, but even then, the idea of universally connected communication seemed destined for entirely practical purposes—people and organizations doing business more efficiently with each other. Entertainment and social interaction of any kind was solidly in another category. You had a computer because you were a student; you had a Nintendo because you needed a break. There were plenty of computers on campus—but 99.9% of them were for faculty and administration purposes. The only people I knew who used e-mail were executives with tech companies and university professors. My dad was a professor at BYU at the time, and he got a big kick out of exchanging electronic mail with his brother in Logan, a professor at USU.

The computer lab in the library, to my memory, offered maybe a dozen PCs and 3 or 4 Macs. You had to pay to use a computer in 15 minute increments, so most students didn’t do any real writing there; they’d bring their work to the lab on a floppy disk just for printing. Most students still didn’t own a computer, and many who did hadn’t invested in a printer yet. Before my husband was even my fiancé, he bought his first PC and dot-matrix printer—an Epson 8088 with a 20 MB hard drive. (My iPhone stores about 400 times that much.) His father, a CPA and investment advisor, was alarmed at this ridiculous extravagance. What kind of a student needs to have his very own computer? Not every student apartment had even one computer, so there was a lot of borrowing and bribing going on.

Being the token almost-40-year-old in some of my classes presents an interesting mixed bag of perceptions about the digital literacy of “older” people. Overall, assumptions from young students seem to be roughly divided into two categories: (1) patience and compassion for this mom, who is probably doing something that’s totally new and hard for her, or (2) over-crediting and respect for this woman, who has probably been doing this for years and is just making it official now. Both are partly true.

I’m a prolific texter. I have two teenage sons with a full roster of extra-curricular activities, and family texting keeps the wheels on the train. But I am aware that this is not (yet) totally typical for mothers. In one of my summer classes, we were divided into groups to create oral presentations. In arranging for collaborative time, we exchanged contact info and I asked one male student, “Do you text?” He said he does, and then using his best Eagle Scout manners, he politely offered to teach me how to text on my phone. I laughed, and without thinking, said, “I’m guessing your mom only uses her phone for actual calls.” I apologized and thanked him for the offer, but assured him I already knew how.

My dad retired five years ago, but before then, there was no point in trying to reach him on his cell phone. It was never on. Church callings have kept him busier since his retirement than he was before it—a fact that I believe has contributed to his being fully conversant with cell phones. Before, Mom and Dad would head out for a destination with the plan to meet up with grandkids later, cheerfully calling over their shoulders, “We’ve got the phone with us.” And I’d holler back, “Remember it only works when you turn it ON!”

This little point of discussion got a lot of airtime: Dad didn’t see why the phone should be turned on when he’s not using it. Answer: So we can reach you. But he knows when we’ll be trying to reach him, and he’ll turn it on then. Besides, it wastes the battery. It’s like idling your car. When I told him it consumes a great deal less energy than idling your car, he said fine—it’s like a flashlight, then. Why would he turn on a flashlight and then put it in his pocket? I needed another angle. Dad’s a fisherman; maybe that tortured metaphor will make more sense: Keeping your phone ON is like having your fishing line out, even when you aren’t hungry. Something nice might happen!

Shortly after the flashlight exchange, I overhead my younger son’s scout leaders (one newly married) talking about a similar frustration with their mothers. “You have to turn the phone ON, mom!” He laughed. “Old people are funny about cell phones!” I almost started to share the flashlight story when he turned to me and said, “Oh—sorry—I hope you weren’t offended that I said that.” (Um, I wasn’t—but I might be now!)

[conclusion]

From flip phone to iphone

I’ve had more cell phones than lovers. 5 cell phones; 2 lovers. I use lovers in very strict terms, as I always have. To me, lovers are boyfriends, nothing else. Not a one-time date, or some guy I kissed once. They are guys that have fixed my car or my computer just because they wanted to. They call me or text me late at night, and early in the morning. They add me as a friend on Facebook. These are the guys you don’t want at first, the ones that talk you into liking them. I’ve never been talked into getting a cell phone. Those I’ve always sought out with great purpose and determination.

Back in the day it used to be AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). I spent middle school weeknights in front of a computer screen “talking” to my friends. Since we were only between the ages of 11 and 13 during middle school, we were confined to our dens on school nights after being strapped to the kitchen table for hours doing homework. I’m sure my mother would have liked to attach some sort of apparatus to my head that detected off-topic brain waves and shocked me whenever one made its way into my thoughts. The digital realm was our only way to get together and defy our parents. Sure, they wouldn’t let us out, but that wouldn’t stop us from stoking the coals of our flaming teenage love affairs. I once started “going out” with a guy on AIM and broke up with him in the same 4 hour conversation.

That’s when I first came up with my killer break-up pitch. “Do you ever think we were just better off as friends?” Who can say no to that? I would never have come up with that on the spot. Were it not for the fact that you can take minutes to respond online rather than seconds in person, I would never have had the thinking time to come up with that winner.

This was all pre-cell phone of course. If I’d had a cell phone I would have undoubtedly sat on my bed or in front of the t.v. texting, like I do now. We did have a family cell phone when I was that age, but it didn’t text. We got our first Motorola when I was about ten. It was the size of a small clock radio and had the same digital numeric screen. It’s hard to recall the time when cell phones didn’t have cameras, let alone an actual LCD screen. My parents shared that phone with me sometimes, like when they let me go to the mall with my best friend who was also a Mormon, whose parents were almost as strict as mine. After all, I’d need it to call them when I was done so they could pick me up in the family SUV. I must say that even the embarrassment of the roof of my mother’s Tahoe sprinkled with Teenie Beenies Babies (they were sewed to the ceiling, my mom thought it would be cute) even that humiliation was somewhat balanced by my hip cell phone. Sure my mom was decorationally and socially challenged, but I had a cell phone. It helped a little.

Then, my friends all got cell phones, of their own. Talk about being shown up. I still shared the brick with my uncool parents. So, when I began high school my parents decided I needed my own phone. My own phone !!! This phone had a little screen with an address book, and text messaging. It was probably one of the first text-able phones. It was another Motorola. It pictured a cute little envelope flying in from invisible cellular space every time I got a text. I still remember the first text I got from my friend Leah. She asked if I was going to meet everyone at the volleyball game.

In those years I was lucky to get more than one text a day. Even better, if I got one text from a guy in a day. Between my braces and raging acne, I was better off in the digital realm. So I continued to develop my texting finesse. It was easy because I grew with the trends. As emoticons and shortened words made their way into text vernacular, I was on the forefront of the movement.

“Wat r u up 2?”

“n2m, jc, u?”

“hw, bball game l8ter”

“k ttyl l8ter”

That’s what my life consisted of. After a couple years I wasn’t happy. I needed a new phone because mine was broken, or because my mom had dropped it in the toilet. Mostly, that’s what I’d tell my parents. In reality, I hated the fact that all my friend were now getting flip phones. I wanted one badly. The level of poshness in high school when someone looks at their phone’s screen and flips it open with their thumb is comparable to having the “Rachel” hairdo in the 90s. You wanna be the Jennifer Aniston in your high school you better get a flip phone and a pole to lean against in a very public place. It’s best if someone calls or texts when you’re in the middle of large circle, from which the conversation will take you. Otherwise, your popularity will go completely unnoticed. But if you’re truly popular, this will happen so often that inevitably some large herd of lemming will be present for a few of them.

So after my flip phone got me no popularity and no more texts than usual, I got another. I put my SIM card in a friend’s old phone and used it for at least a year. It was a fatter Motorola, but it was cool at the time. It had the air of the Nextel phones that could walkie talkie people. (I think it even had that function, but I never used it.) It was the same shape, almost the same size, and it was like wearing Target jeans and trying to pass them off as Sevens. A little obvious.

I'll Pray For You

This is short I know it will be longer in the final format:


I was the only person left on the planet who didn’t have texting. I would come home for vacation and spend countless hours texting people from my dad’s work phone hoping it would annoy him enough to add texting to our family plan. There were times I came very close to accomplishing my goal but every time my mom walked into AT&T she would back out on me. I would come back to Provo without a texting plan and without any true sense of who I was. Ok, maybe this would be true if I were in middle school but I still tried as hard as I could to get texting added to my phone.

“You want me to be social in school right Mom?” I would try to use my lack of social skills as a push toward texting. My mother has always criticized me for my school, work, then bed schedule. My logic in this was only people who have texting get invited to parties. I didn’t say it was sound logic.

“You can text me anytime you want Mom.” That should have been the deciding factor. She could get a hold of me no matter what I was doing with my new found social life. In class? No problem, just send a text right?

“Everyone else has texting.” Bottom line I was desperate.

I begged and pleaded for a year and finally decided to give up or get my own cell phone plan. I wanted to do all I could to have my parents pay for it but texting was that important. My mom and I were sitting in the foyer at church the Sunday after Christmas talking about my desperate need for texting when the first counselor of the Bishopric came out of one of his meetings. He stopped dead in his tracks, spun around on one heal, and looked straight at my mom.

“This girl doesn’t have texting?”

Laughing my mom said, “No, she doesn’t need it.”

“Tina, every girl needs texting. Heck, I need texting.” He then opened a door to another meeting and paused to look at me, “I’ll pray for you and you will get texting.”

My mom and I just sat there stunned. Did he just say he would pray for me to get texting? I was pretty sure I had miss understood but the look on my mom’s face confirmed it was true.

“There’s no way that is going to work.” My mom looked at me as we both tried to hold in our giggles.

A week later I sat in the airport texting my mom. It would take her 30 minutes to respond but I did it just because I could. I could text anyone. Moral of the story? Prayer works.

Progressive Reluctance

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Grant Burns

Professor Paul

English 326

9/23/09

My Digital Evolution: Progressive Reluctance

My experiences with acclimating myself with the endless wave of digital advancement has been a slow and steady climb to say the least. I have always viewed technology as something of moderate convenience rather than absolute necessity. I do feel that I have grown accustomed to a few select advancements that I enjoy on a daily basis. However, I must say that my use of technology has been a reluctant one on my behalf. Furthermore, I firmly believe that my feelings toward the digital age stem from my belief that technological advancement has caused a regression of interpersonal communication skills, all the while masquerading as its beneficiary.

The first time I ever encountered something completely bizarre and different than I had ever seen before was in kindergarten when I first used a computer. I could mark this as the beginning of my digital advancement as I played addition games on this box with a keyboard in front of it. When I think about it, those computers didn’t even seem like computers, just machines used for a few simple tasks. I really didn’t see the point in them personally, but as the years went on in school, computers began to play a major role in my education.

I really don’t think it was till high school that I felt the pressure to truly know how to use a computer. I don’t know if that sounds shocking, but that’s how the situation went. I was probably in my junior year of high school when my teachers had said that papers needed to be handed in by way of printed page. I thought to myself “Why is that necessary?” I couldn’t understand why

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they wanted our assignments in such an impersonal way, all typed up in the same format, like ducks in a line. I felt that I was so use to writing things by hand that to type something up would be foreign to me. I must admit it truly was. I didn’t become apt at typing till my freshman year at college. I simply didn’t spend any time on these machines. I mean I didn’t even have an email account until I was a junior in high school and my cousin showed me how. For me this transition was very difficult and I was still attempting to turn in papers handwritten, which had mixed reactions because I have always known my handwriting to be both quick, thoughtful, and a bit untidy to put it lightly (few can translate it).

In my senior year it was truly expected to turn in papers typed and in a certain format. This caused me to be forced into learning how to better use my grandpa’s computer which had dial-up by the way and this was 2005. When I got into using a computer regularly, I did enjoy the professional manner in which information could be presented. I also understood the plight of teachers to be able to grade quickly without showing favoritism to handwriting styles (too personal perhaps). It added up to me that to make it in the professional world, there has to be a standard everyone needs to abide by. This was something that was very important for me to learn as college quickly approached.

I received my first personal computer the summer before I began at BYU. It was a Compaq M2000 which I had been using for four years straight until it met its demise this summer. It was something special to have a computer all to my own, something that expensive that could do so many things. It was an upgrade over my Grandpa’s model and there is much truth in the belief that the things you own arise a certain defense of their merit because you are now associated with them. I learned how to type mainly through instant messaging and it is my belief that many

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others would say the same. I enjoyed the speed and efficiency I could now work with and found handwriting other than for class notes a thing of the past.

My reception of a cell phone was one I partook of with great enthusiasm. As compared to my transition into the computing world, my transition into personal phones was considerably smoother. I felt left out that everyone else around me had a phone while I did not. I felt that in case of emergency or simply for convenience a cell phone was a must. I also attribute my eyes opening up to the world of technology through computers to be part of how eager I was to own this new instrument. I adamantly state that my need to feel accepted socially, especially to the fairer sex, was a major reason why I needed a cell phone. Having one makes you feel connected to others and accessible. I must admit that I received that phone on my 19^th birthday and I still use the same one today, four years later.

This I feel is a point at which I hit a plateau of technological advancement. I later bought an IPod in order to have songs at hand and eliminate cds. However, I still find myself making cds as the IPod runs out of life and I have to resort to older methods. I do like my IPod, but as far as technology is concerned mine is far out dated at this time. I haven’t really kept up in the phone race as you now know. The Razor passed me by, the Sidekick, the IPhone. I own none of these nor have any desire to. I have a quality phone that has never had issues and that’s probably because it’s a function model rather than something sleek and breakable. I don’t have a digital camera and don’t see the need for one really. I think people take too many pictures if anything. Tell me you haven’t seen the endlessly useless photos of people on their facebook pages and you’d be lying. I just now got a new computer for rental at BYU. It is an older model with windows XP on it which I prefer anyway since I hate vista. I really have been set in my ways for

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a number of years and I think that’s how I’ll always be. I don’t think I’m a step behind at all, on the contrary, the wanton spending of money on every new thing that comes out when next month they’re going to put something better out doesn’t make sense to me. In my opinion, we have too much technology. The time we spend caught in the tech companies’ nets of commercialism, causes the loss of deeper and more important skills. Whatever happened to talking over the phone? Younger people can only text each other and can’t seem to formulate full sentences. I was just at a group job interview the other day, competing with high school seniors and college freshman. Tell me eloquence and quick thinking doesn’t have something to do with the fact that I pride myself on face to face relations and almost never text anyone, preferring the direct impact a phone call can have? I believe that the more personal the contact, the bigger the impact the massage can have. Thus, I have tried to remain true to what I believe in, in the face of advancement.

It seems to me that my position in regards to technological advancement, this digital culture we all live in now is one of reluctant acceptance. I will do what is necessary to fulfill what has come to be accepted as forms of information exchange. However, I still prefer and will uphold older forms as better suited and more impactful in regards to interpersonal relations. I have enjoyed the fruits of technology through my few years of experience. Yet, I haven’t forgotten that for so many years I managed just fine and in some cases better, without. Technology in the sense of its current advancement is a luxury, but is something we have been led to believe is a necessity. I for one am sticking to my guns and along the way am hoping to at least have others recognize how communication has been affected in a negative way. It may be a futile effort, but it’s a theory I have seen much validity in.

What is truth? My experience finding out....


When I was 14 years old, my family had gotten a brand new computer. It was an HP Pavillion with Windows 95. Although such a computer is a “dinosaur” compared to today’s computers, we thought it was top-of-the-line at the time. We had had another computer that just ran DOS and some word processing; moreover, if our new computer could be considered a “dinosaur” by today’s standards than our previous computer could be considered as having been present for the “Big Bang”. As I helped my dad hook up and install drivers on the new PC, I couldn’t help but notice the CD-ROM drive. “Whoa!” I thought as I put in my first computer game into the drive. “This is perhaps the coolest thing I have ever seen!” Later that week I had a friend of mine come over and show us how the computer really worked, he helped us to truly see what this new PC was made of. Sure enough, I was introduced to AOL online chat as well as ICQ (I Seek You). Right before my eyes, my friend and I were chatting to someone whom we had never met and probably never meet. I thought to myself, “what a great way to socialize.”

It’s true that online chatting is a great way to connect with other people, but could such an invention be possibly too good to be true? As I chatted more and more on ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, I learned more and more about the lingo of online chatting. I had learned early on that there are predators out there thanks to my parents informing me. I found that you could say anything you wanted to over the internet and there was no way of proving your statements to be right or wrong! I began chatting with females about how great I was at wakeboarding and how much I loved to skateboard. In reality, I did none of these things, but in my fourteen year old head, did it matter? It’s not like these people I chat with truly know who I am and there’s really no way they can find out.

Soon afterward, I began to even accept anything I read online as truth. One night I was chatting with a friend of mine from Michigan. He brought up how some guys came to his doors and wanted to talk about the Bible. I could only imagine that it was the missionaries. He began to tell me he wasn’t interested in what they had to say, because he felt the Bible contradicted itself. “It does!?” I gasped allowed. I began to wonder what my parents were hiding from me. Perhaps my friend was right. Shaking, I asked him what parts of the Bible contradicted the whole. He gave me a few verses and I looked them up, but after reading them I couldn’t find the contradictions. I soon realized that he was reading everything out of context. I realized there and then that I was somewhat taking everything I read online to be true. I believed what everyone was saying on online was true. But my experience in this matter didn't end with my friend in Michigan.

Technical Difficulties

The digital realm has surrounded me for as long as I can remember. I still remember the first time I used the Internet at my father’s office when I was nine years old. I remember the first time we had a computer in the house and how I would play all sorts of games on it. I remember when the Internet took over the world and how suddenly, AOL Instant Messenger became my best friend. As time went on the new “toys” that I received began to become more progressed: laptop, cell phone, GPS, cell phones with keyboards, wireless internet, the iPhone, etc. Being engrossed in the digital realm always kept me keen of what was coming out next and which product would help me the most in my life. Throughout all of these experiences, the one that had the greatest impact on my digital life happened when I applied to be a technical commissioner my sophomore year for the student body. I applied for this position because I had heard it was the easiest way to make it on the student body but through my responsibilities I would learn to rely on technology to help me accomplish my goals in ways that I had not had to beforehand.

My responsibilities as a technical commissioner were many. At first, I was simply doing all the grunt work: moving speakers, carrying cords, fetching various items, etc. As I learned more about how to do my job my responsibilities became much greater. I now was running the pep rallies and all sound for any major event. The success of the event relied on me and making sure that everything digital involved in the event was working properly.

These experiences as a technical commissioner taught me to respect that digital realm and the possibilities that it provided others and me. The stress involved with having a huge event rely on my technical skills and the technology being used helped me in other aspects of my life as well.

The Old School Anthem: Doo-Doo Dah Doo Dah Dut!

When I was around eight years old my family lived in Oklahoma in a house with a log exterior and twenty acres of land. Although this might sound like a lot of land, I know my family wasn’t rich, per se—we just benefited from the fact that next to nobody lived out in the woods in our little corner of the state, and land was cheap. Our nearest neighbor lived a quarter mile down the road and had a home-made smoker built from an old refrigerator. We spent our summer days either digging holes in the dirt, swimming in the “crick,” or tromping through the woods.

We also had a fairly large garden, and after picking the ripe veggies, we had the chance to earn some extra money by catching all manner of beetles and grasshoppers and dropping them in jars of rubbing alcohol. When we decided to pool our money to buy a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), our parents agreed to meet us halfway. The system cost $50, and we had to earn $25 on our own by embalming garden pests. We got something like 1 cent for potato beetles, and 5 cents for grasshoppers, so we actually grew fairly expert at catching those cash cows from the air, or pouncing on them as soon as they touched the earth.

When we bought the NES (pronounced “ness” despite being an acronym), it came with a single game cartridge that had two games on it—Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. In Super Mario Bros., you play either as Mario or his brother Luigi, differentiated only by the color of their overalls (Mario wears red and tan, Luigi green and white). Throughout the game you defeat monsters by either jumping on their heads or spitting fireballs at them, which ability you gain from ingesting a fire-flower, but only after you have eaten a mushroom to get big. All the while you are in pursuit of Princess Peach, whom the evil dragon-like monster Bowser stole. You have to play through all eight worlds before you find her, of course. Until then, you find again and again that “We’re sorry, but the princess is in another castle!” If you’re lucky you can find an extra guy mushroom, which gives you another chance to play the level should you die or fall down a hole. Or you might find a bouncing star that makes you temporarily invincible, and run with it until the music changes back to normal.

The music in Super Mario Bros. is distinctive, repetitive, and maddeningly catchy. Four basic musical themes accompany the twenty five or twenty six levels in the game, depending on whether the individual level is above ground, underground, underwater, or in one of Bowser’s castles. I remember lying in my bedroom (upstairs and at the other end of a hallway from where the NES was kept) wondering whether someone was playing downstairs, not sure if I could hear the music, or if I only imagined it. Both of my older siblings have reported the same thing—that after playing for several hours, they thought they could hear the music even after the game was turned off. As an adult I have come across several remixed versions of those same themes, including an a cappella version that took me right back.

We also used to get what I could only describe as thumb fatigue. The NES controllers were rectangular, with a cross-shaped directional pad on the left and two round, red action buttons (labeled “a” and “b”) on the right. If you played for long enough, the skin on your thumb-tips grew tender, to the point where playing any more became painful—although we were tough enough to play through the pain. Unlike the Nintento Wii controller, the NES controllers could not sense motion. However, this did not stop us from “jumping” with our controllers by lifting them up and over while guiding Mario over one of the many, many holes in his world. If we ever had to explain to an adult why we liked Nintendo games so much, we always claimed something about how they “improved our hand-eye coordination.” Unfortunately, I have never found the job that requires me to push little buttons at the right time depending on what I see on a screen, in order to succeed.

Even if Super Mario Bros. hasn’t prepared me for a career, it did teach me how to play video games. At a young age I got used to playing, or watching someone play, for an extended period of time. The game itself is more challenging than many later games, because you do not have the option of saving your progress part of the way through. As a result, any time you start the game, you have to be mentally ready to play it all the way through. Furthermore, when school started, or if we fought over it too much, my parents usually put the Nintendo away, so we learned that you have to get your playing in while you can. Unfortunately, these same habits have come back to bite me since becoming an adult and managing my own time.

Even though I can, for the most part, choose whether I am going to play a game or not, and for how long, I still get the feeling that once I start playing, I “need” to play as much as I can, because I can’t be sure whether I’ll get to play tomorrow. Furthermore, I don’t like to stop and save, unless I’m at a natural break in the game, even if the game allows me to save at any time. As a result I sometimes struggle because I want to play computer games, but I know that if I play, I will probably abuse the privilege.

Also, I have noticed that if I play a game too much, to the point that I feel guilty about it, I usually want to delete the game the next day. The problem with this tactic is that by deleting the unfinished game, I never get the sense that I’ve completed it, so it is likely that a few months down the road I’ll want to play it again. Once again, this leads me to feel that I can’t be sure how much I’ll be able to play a game, so when I do play it, I’d better play it to the max. This sort of binge/purge behavior is frustrating to me, but since I started playing so young, it is also deeply rooted.

Super Mario Brothers is unique because it was the first video game I played, and it created the interest and desire to play more, different games. It is as firmly entrenched in my ideas of childhood as is playing in the dirt or swimming in the “crick,” or running through the forest with sticks as swords. Unlike these other activities, however, Super Mario Bros. is one I can have again. All I have to do is download an emulator, which allows me to play old school NES games on my computer, and I am back. Interestingly to me, but in this context perhaps not surprisingly, I find that the old school games I played as a kid are more alluring to me than the newest, hi-tech, hi-graphics computer games available today.