Finishing production of the group project

 Hello, in todays blog post I am going to be going over the work that me and my group have been doing for our group project on the topic of  play, agency, and interactive narrative. At this stage in the project we are confident and excited to finish the project so we can see what the end product looks like. Each of us in the group have our strengths in certain areas in the project which helps us benefit off one another.

So far each of us have done extensive research into our topics and are able to confidently speak about them. We have been script writing our sections in the project that each of us are going to speak on and had to make sure that our scripts remain in the maximum that the video length can be.

Prior to this project most of us have had limited to no experience in video editing but through learning with tutorial videos and also through someone in our group who is experienced with video editing we have been able to learn the basics in order to make the video. We planned that our video wouldn't be too complicated to avoid us getting stuck or confused. We are using stock videos and also footage that we have captured ourselves in videogames to show examples while explaining them. We noticed the importance of having subtitles in our videos and have made sure to pick a font and colour that is easy to read. We also planned on adding copyright free music at a low volume in the background of our video that suits the topic that we are discussing.

To add more information on the topics that we discussed, we made a survey to compile information from people and what their opinions are on topics. The survey was a big success because we had so many different opinions and views on topics and unexpected majority votes we didn't expect.

This whole project has been a great learning process for everyone in our group as we all learned something new like for example someone in our group didn't have much experience with gaming but was able to learn about the topics quickly. Another example would be that we have been learning off one of our group members on editing. We also learned how critical it is to keep communicating with our group members often so that we can help and update each other on the progress that we have been doing in order to work more effectively. Group chats and voice calls were very effective for this.

Sources

- image by Canva studio - creative commons zero license - (link to image)

Peer review #2

Hello, for todays blog post I am going to be discussing my second peer review work. In this I will talk about the experience as a whole and what I have learned throughout the process and on the topic of peer feedback. Firstly I am going to discuss my thoughts before doing feedback and what my attitude is towards it now.

Prior to participating in peer feedback I always experienced it from getting feedback from my teachers. This kind of feedback can range from being very positive saying you did very well all the way to giving heavy criticism like telling you that your work is unacceptable which can give you low esteem.

When I heard that we were doing peer feedback in IDM I was initially worried because I thought that I would have to give in some cases negative criticism towards someone which I dont like doing because I have experienced  negative forms of criticism before and know that it can be a punch in the stomach sometimes. Luckily when I actually learned the process of giving peer feedback and making our own feedback comments on blogs I learned that criticism doesn't have to be condescending it can be constructive and used to help you build and improve on your current and future work.

When I give criticism I make sure that it is constructive so that people can build off their mistakes rather than receiving criticism that only offers criticism without ways of improving on it. 

Something that I really enjoyed about giving peer feedback is that when you look at multiple blogs on the same topics you can see the many approaches that people take and the techniques that they use. Another part that I enjoyed about peer feedback was getting feedback from others about my blog.  The feedback that I got back from my peers were constructive helping me to improve on my work.

When I am giving my peer feedback for blogs I try to put myself in the person that receives its shoes and think what I would like to hear for feedback. For myself I like to know what parts that I did well, parts I didn't do so well and what I can do to improve my work in future. I use this as a framework to make my feedback as useful as I can.

- Source

- The Power of Giving Feedback and Receiving Feedback in Peer Assessment, Volume 11, Number 2 Page1 by Lan Li and Valentina Grion.

Peer review 1

Peer review 2

The technological evolution of media

Hello, for todays blog I am going to be discussing the technological evolution of media that I have learned from watching some videos related to the topic. I will also be giving my own thoughts and opinions on the information that I learned.

The first video I watched was a  video called 'Technology Evolution | 100,000 BC - 2020' by WatchMedia showing various advances in technology and inventions from the very beginning of human existence, all the way up to the modern era. What I found interesting about this video is how quickly humans create and advance already existing technologies. For example in 1827 the first picture ever was taken and less than 100 years later the first television was invented which could broadcast live footage.

The second and third videos that I watched broke down the history of media itself from its invention, all the way up to the modern forms of media. These 2 videos were done by Crashcourse. As far back as ancient Greece philosophers like Plato gave his opinion on people writing things down they need to remember saying “If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder." Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E). I find this quote very fascinating because in the modern era this still applies for social media where  people can post something on the internet and can be found years later and can be used against you out of context. 

Another topic I found interesting is how the printing press and in the United States the Penny press had a big influence on the populace of the nation. An example would be when the USS Maine sank in 1898 outside Cuba which was a Spanish colony at the time. When this incident occurred an investigation was going to be carried out to find the reason the Maine sank but 2 days later the press made dramatic headlines suggesting that the Spanish were behind its sinking and showed illustrated images of men sinking with the ship. This caused tensions to rise to the point where war broke out between America and Spain. It is later thought that the probable cause of the sinking was ammunition catching fire onboard by mistake. This shows how powerful the influence of the press was at the time and how they rose tensions between 2 countries in order to get more papers sold. 

In the third video types of defensiveness's were discussed including cultural, political and moral. Cultural defensiveness is when certain media doesn't effect people from different cultures. Political defensiveness is when people need to be protected from false beliefs and ideologies. Moral defensiveness is where the effects of sex, violence and consumerism in media are the biggest concern.  

  

An interesting topic brought up is how famous people in media influence their followers. For example if a famous person smokes, maybe their followers will or if a famous person votes for a political party will their followers do the same?  Influence by media personalities in my opinion can be most seen in kids as they can be looked up to as role models.

Sources:

 - WatchMedia - Technology Evolution | 100,000 BC - 2020 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJM3yuIDDPQ

- CrashCourse - History of Media Literacy, Part 1: Crash Course Media Literacy #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXf0F4GYzWQ&t=95s

- CrashCourse - History of Media Literacy, Part 2: Crash Course Media Literacy #3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUjvNtgWAs&t=152s

- Image by Ola Dapo - Creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-headset-3345882/

My preparations towards production

 Hello, for todays blog I will be giving an update to what work I have been doing this week for my group project. This week I did a lot of research into the topic of console and PC games.

So far I have done some in depth research into the topics of console and pc games as well as monetisation in gaming. Console and pc games both have their own strengths and weaknesses and I decided to look into this. Console gaming is usually the first platform that people that want to play games that are high in quality usually go for and there are reasons for this. The first reason is because consoles are heavily advertised on television, billboards, on the internet and also through your friends mentioning them. Even if you are not a gamer everyone has heard of the big names such as Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. Each platforms have their own exclusive games and its up to you which one tailors to you the most.

Consoles are also very easy to operate because of their main function is to play videogames. This makes playing games with your friends very easy. PCs are not solely designed to play games so if you are not very good at navigating a computer  Console exclusive it can be difficult. games that are not available on other consoles and PC makes them a big pull factor. Their relatively small price in comparison to PCs is also a big factor that affects peoples decisions. 

Now that I have talked about the positive reasons for console popularity, I will now talk about the reasons why people play on PCs. The absolutely huge library of games that you can choose to play on PC is endless because of the many games providers and websites that do not exist on consoles as consoles only have one store to buy from. Most PCs depending on how good their components are usually perform much better than consoles. On PC you also do not need to buy a subscription in order to play games online.

In this group project I think that I could contribute well in the video editing. I have previously used Adobe software's such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom and Animate. Although I only have little skills in video editing software's such as Premiere Pro I still think that I might be able to pick up on how to use it very quickly as the Adobe software's do have a lot in common with each other in terms of layouts and tools. 

Another way that I can see myself being helpful in a group project is sharing some of my knowledge in certain categories in this project. This project has a big focus on gaming and I have always played games since I was young and have seen a lot of these topics around me over the years that I have played.

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- Image by RF._.studio - creative commons zero license.

Understanding media ethics

 Hello, For my blog today I will be discussing two different topics regarding media ethics. Media ethics is a large term that has many categories and topics within it, for example social media, entertainment and journalism. In these topics media ethics would cover for example how morally correct something is in society. While discussing media ethics I will be referring to two videos that I have watched

The first video is called 'How Dark Patterns Trick You Online' by a YouTube channel called Nerdwriter1. This video discusses a technique of design that is used by many forms of media such as videogames, websites and social medias to  "trick users into doing things that they might not want to do, but which benefit the business in question". 

Prior to watching this video I have never heard anything like this but after watching this video I began to notice how it is used across so many media platforms. In the video one of the examples was the use of the colour scheme green on a button on a game that usually is associated with moving on in the game and playing more levels. However at one stage in the game you are prompted to make a purchase in the game and they use the same colour green in the same position on the screen that is used to progress further. On top of this the X button to close this pop up was blended in using the grey outline colour that was surrounding the pop up. If you were not careful you could easily end up making an accidental purchase. This dark pattern technique can trick people that even have a high media literacy because of how well it is designed. 

Another example of a dark pattern that was used in the video was how difficult it is to delete an Amazon account. Personally I consider myself decent at navigating through websites but after watching the process of what you had to do in order to delete an account I dont think that I would be able to do it without looking up on the internet on how to do it. This dark pattern makes it so people feel like its just too much effort to delete the account so instead they just leave it as it is.

What makes dark patterns a useful technique to use for people like a
pp developers is that it is not illegal as technically there is no real way that it is only physiologically tricking people that may not be paying full attention to what they are doing. 

Now that I know what dark patterns are, the more I am seeing them in my mobile phone games, social media and websites that I have been visiting. A dark pattern that I have experienced is when I got a pop up ad while playing a game on my phone is that the X button to close the ad was so small that it was physically very difficult to hit the close ad button without accidentally pressing the ad and bringing me to the apps page in the Google Play store.

After watching this video I feel like my eyes have been opened more to these design techniques are used to benefit to company. I personally think that everyone that uses technology regularly should watch the video that I have watched in order to get an understanding.

- Sources

- Nerdwriter1 - How Dark Patterns Trick You Online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkrdLI6e6M&t=113s

- Image by Pixabay creative commons zero license - https://www.pexels.com/photo/tuned-on-gray-laptop-computer-163097/

Revising writing from a previous blog

 Hello, for todays blog I will be talking about my experiences from when I received a comment on one of my blog posts. This comment included feedback in what I did well as well as what I can improve on.

The advice that I got was that my blog is worded well and that my structure was well done which made it an easier read. It was also mentioned that when I would quote someone else's work I appropriately give credit to the text that I am referring to. The reviewer can tell that I did my reading of the document thoroughly due to my understanding of it. I was happy to hear this as I was worried that my work might be difficult for someone else to read. I always try to make my blogs easy to read and follow because I know what its like to read something that is difficult to follow.

The constructive criticism that I was given was that  I should give my own point of view on the information that I am giving. After seeing this and reading through my blog again this became apparent to me. I decided to give my own thoughts and experiences after each of the methods of studies that were talked about and how I have previously used those techniques or what my opinions on them were. It was good to hear what I was doing incorrectly because when I write articles in the future I will take this advice into account.

- Blog and comment: https://finnsidmblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/breaking-down-journal-to-encourage.html

 

Breaking down a Journal to encourage active reading rewrite #1

 Hello, in this post I am going to be going through a journal that I have read called The journal of reading by Ernest Balajthy. The journal was published in 1984 by the International Literacy Association and Wiley. First I will be going through that is given in the journal and after I will give my opinion on the research.

When reading this journal you can see that the target audience is aimed at students. The reason why I think this is because multiple times in this journal he makes examples using students in classroom scenarios, for example in the second paragraph Ernest (page 408 February 1984) says " As a skill, self-questioning can be taught to students of all ages. Research and experience have demonstrated its classroom usefulness and its place in models of learning by reading".  I agree with this point that is made by Ernest because I think that it isn't too difficult at any age for students to think of their own questions for information because all students have seen questions that are asked by a text book and by seeing these they already know the format in which questions are asked. 

When discussing active reading, Ernest does not just give his own opinions he also mentions the thoughts of other researchers. An example of this is in the third and fourth paragraph (page 408 February 1984), he show the two opposing views of learning activity with Kintsch and van Dijk believing " retention is automatic with comprehension and can be predicted by analysing the text structure" (Kintsch and van Dijk, 1978; Rumelhart, 1977). Other researchers believe that retention is influenced by their four factors which are: "the nature of the material, the characteristics of the learner, the learning activities applied (cognitive learning strategies and study skills), and the task by which learning is measured"  (Kintsch and van Dijk, 1978; Rumelhart, 1977) (page 408 February 1984). Personally when I want to retain information that I want to learn I usually will read the same paragraph or point of information a few times over until I know the information in my head without looking anymore.

From reading this journal I think that Ernest Balajthy is in agreement with with the active research that he has done on previous studies by other researchers. What makes me believe this is in the second paragraph (page 409 February 1984), Ernest mentions: self-questioning allows the reader to read actively for meaning independent of teacher supplied learning aids (Singer and Donlan, 1982). Ernest gives his own opinion on this research talking about what other advantages these techniques might give to a reader. When I study I use a form of self questioning myself when I use flash cards that have the questions that I have made for myself on one side and have the answer on the other side so by using this form of self questioning I am able to learn the answers to questions quickly.

After reading this journal I obtained useful information that I think that I will be able to use to my advantage. I would like to train how to self question myself better so that I can stay focused on my task at hand and not loose interest in what I am doing. More information that I found useful was the student led discussions and the group competition in the third and fourth bullet points (page 409 February 1984). I think these techniques will help in a group project situation to get everyone in the group to know how to work together and how to do it more efficiently. Another part of this journal that makes it very useful to me is that it is tailored towards students which is what I currently am.

Sources:

- Journal of Reading, Feb., 1984, Vol. 27, No. 5 (Feb., 1984), pp. 408-411, 

- Author: Ernest Balajthy

- original post: https://finnsidmblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/breaking-down-journal-to-encourage.html