Final Research Paper

            The following Research Paper is about First Person Shooter Video Games.  This subject is a very broad topic, but there are a few specific things that are worth going into detail about in the following paper.

            First person signifies a graphical perspective where the players see the world from the eyes of their characters.  This research paper will compare the 1^st first person shooters in the 1990’s all the way up to the newest generation consoles including the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.

            There has been research about gamers who played first person shooters about how they performed better in ability tests such as focus, reasoning, and decision-making.

            This paper will conclude with the positives and negatives that fist person shooters have on one’s mind and the decisions that these gamers make both in game, and in reality.

Link:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B71h9CK5RQYzdi1ta1E1TUU3anc/view?usp=sharing

Convergence!

            Convergence is the old and new media interacting together in complex ways.  There are five types of convergence identified by Henry Jenkins and they are as follows:  Economic Convergence; Organic Convergence; Cultural Convergence; Global Convergence; and Technological Convergence.  The human is still the center of all technology but with newer inventions coming out, Convergence is the answer to it all.

            For example, taking pictures with a cell phone and surfing the web on a television are two of the most common examples of convergence.  Today’s high school students have never known a world where the Internet didn’t exist.  Such a cultural change can cause a generation gap between those who grew up with the media and those who didn’t.  Convergence has also made multi-tasking much easier.

            When I think of the word Convergence, I think of my International Marketing class where we recently talked about the topic of 3D printers.  There has been a prototype of an electric car that was made with a 3D printer.  The parts of the car include its front and back panels, door panels, bumper systems, side skirts, wheel arches and lamp masks, along with some small interior items that took a total of 44 hours to print.  The final version of this car has been reported to have a top speed of 62 miles an hour and is tagged around $10,000 - $12,550.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daioWlkH7ZI)

            Convergence is changing the way people live in this society and will continue to grow and change our future for the better.  My predictions for the future will be that 3D printers will be able to soon print our lunches and dinner with the 

A Reaction To Ender's Game

            I consider myself a “Gamer” and when it comes to choosing between reading a book and watching the movie, I usually end up picking the movie mostly because I am a visual learner and am able to understand more by watching the movie.  If there were a third option to play the game and be able to fully learn the material through it then I would choose that one.  The novel Ender’s Game was a novel that actually interested me because of the fact that the story talked about gaming.

            In this novel, a child genius named Ender is particularly chosen by international military-forces to save the world from destruction.  He also has a brother and sister who were being watched by the military but they didn’t “have the characteristic traits” to help save the world from the buggers like Ender did.  The reason I enjoyed reading this book was because Ender wasn’t born fully ready for the job, but was able to be trained into the person who could complete the job.  He was put in different circumstances where he was forced to do things against his will and even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing and hesitated to get it done, he ended up making the decision that had to be done and continued to learn.  This showed that Ender had the traits to become a leader and that’s exactly where he was positioned.  After Ender finishes battle school, he is transferred to Command School where he is successful against the buggers and won the battle.

            This novel brings out the aspect that virtual games are getting closer and closer to being able to mimic real life situations and make you feel like you (Your body) are in control of the character instead of just using a controller.  I am truly excited to see what future technology will be introduced in the gaming field and how life will change for children growing up playing those games.

Do Games Count!?

     Within every group of friends, there is always a lucky one, one that talks a lot, one that nobody can stand, and the one that barely talks.  In my group of friends, I am the one that everyone considers lucky and good at every video game.  Growing up, we played Nintendo 64 and up until this day my friends are convinced that I have put a listening chip inside my game system because during the game Mario party (board game), you have to roll a dice and I would call every number I would roll before even rolling the die.  When we played super smash brothers, I would always be the one with the most kills and my team would always come first during team battles.
     The past couple weeks, our class has been talking about video games and how literature can be expressed through games.  I have been very interested in every piece being presented toward us because not only am I a visual learner, but also I love video games.  When I’m not playing video games, I’m researching about the game I’m currently addicted to or just thinking about playing.  Although I have been entertained with the past couple game readings, I haven’t learned much from them which goes to show that I don’t think video games are a replacement to a novel or story but would be a good recap.  By this, I mean that it would be a better concept to “play” the game before reading the novel/story then actually read the piece and go back and “play” the game after.  By doing this, you are able to visualize the game while reading the novel and after reading it the game would help with a closure.  With games such as “Intruder,” I was more involved with the gaming aspect that everything I was reading and trying to interpret would quickly be forgotten when the next game would be projected onto my screen.
     I don’t consider myself a 4.0 student but I do consider myself a very smart person with great knowledge.  I can successfully say that video games have helped me through my real life basing my real life experiences through stories I have been through in the “gaming world.”  Every couple of months, violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto find themselves on the news because kids blame their act of violence on video games because the game “portrays” it is easy to get away with committing such crimes.  Video games have their positives and negatives within our society but within the next couple years, they will takeover and have different meanings.

A day in the life of a UPJ student

            I am a senior graduating college in December and currently commute to University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.  I started using this computer lab when I was a freshman living in Laurel Hall without a printer.  The only time I am on campus now is when I have class, or when I am in the Blackington computer lab shown in the picture above.  This computer lab has been saving my life since freshman year because it is always open and is convenient for not only mac users, but windows users as well.  This lab provides us with a printer, a stapler, and a scanner, which I recently used for the first time.  I still don’t have a printer at home so being able to print my papers before class starts at this computer lab has prevented me from a lot of late assignments.  There is a separate printer outside of the room incase you want to print in color, which I had to do for a marketing plan last year which consisted of 105 pages.  Two weeks ago I presented a case study with my partner for my Leadership class and we had to use the scanner to scan the case study from the book for our class to read before we presented our opinion on it.  Another reason this computer lab is reliable is because when we were on fall break this past week, I had to work on homework the Monday we didn’t have class and came to Blackington to see every computer lab locked except the computer lab shown in the picture above.  Because this computer lab was open, I was able to get one of my History papers finished and printed and stapled ready to be turned in for class on Thursday. 

            For all the positives this computer lab has done for me, there are also quite a few negatives about this specific lab.  For example, the positioning of the printer is in the very right corner of the room and no matter where you are sitting, you will distract somebody else while walking to the printer because of how small the actual room is.  Being a business major, we are assigned numerous group projects and this room isn’t very convenient for those because you don’t want to distract other people and don’t have enough room to think.  If you are sitting on one of the macs that face the window, you can see numerous people going up and down the stairs, which causes another distraction because its hard to not stare at somebody walking in front of you who is more than likely staring back at you.  Overall, I would rate this computer lab a 7/10 because there have been more positives this lab has brought to me then negative but nothing is perfect.

I Have Multiple Homes

     I feel gifted to say that I can read this blog post, look at any of the bullet points above and be able to go to sleep at night comfortably knowing I can call any of these places listed as my home.  The reason I chose to talk about my life for this google maps project is because I thought this was the perfect time to plot different bullet points around the world and not only see how far my family has come from where we started, but the action my family takes to be able to make sure our cousins get to see each other whenever it is possible.  With the use of new technology such as being able to Face-time and Skype, our family is able to communicate a lot easier not having to go through international phone calls, but simply downloading an app which lets us communicate digitally.

http://goo.gl/maps/nfdeC

4 MEMES

1.  Original Image, Original Text

 2.  Original Image, "Borrowed Text"

 3.  Borrowed Image, Original Text

4.  Borrowed Image, Borrowed Text

Mr. Plimpton's Revenge

     One reason I chose this story is because it was interesting to me while I was reading it.  I feel like if this story was written on a Microsoft Word document, I would have stopped reading it after the first paragraph, but since it was portrayed in a google maps manner, I was able to physically change to the next part of the story which would take me to a new location that the author would talk about.  Although the author added humor in a couple different areas to keep the readers entertained, I also found it a story I could personally relate to because not only am I also a University of Pittsburgh student, but my parents have a house in Pittsburgh so I was able to visualize the actual streets the author was talking about while I was going through the story.  Even though I liked how the story was being presented, I questioned if the story even had a point to it as some of the parts seemed to be made up, but as I kept reading, it ended up being one of my favorite stories we have read with a point to be learned.  One thing I learned greatly is to never keep your head down because it pays to keep your eyes open.  It might have been a little creepy that these the two people stumbled upon each other numerous times after they were first introduced to each other in Pittsburgh, but they ended up forming a friendship and the old guy managed to remember the kid who chauffeured him around Pittsburgh.

Public Secrets by Sharon Daniel and Erik Loyer

     Public Secrets was a piece that I enjoyed reading very much.  One reason I was interested in this so much was because Sharon Daniel put herself into a dangerous position to listen to other women's experiences in the Central California Women's Facility.  The California Department of Corrections had imposed a media ban on all of its facilities which prohibited face-to-face interviews, cameras and recording devices, etc.  The reason we all have access to public secrets was because Sharon Daniel was put into this facility as an advocate to be able to relate to these other women in a more personal matter which would help them open up to her and share their experiences with her about their knowledge on the war of drugs, the criminal justice system, and the prison industrial complex.  

     I consider myself a visual learner and looking at public secrets was a very creative way to present this piece.  I also don't like to read but the fact that I was able to interact with each block and be able to listen to some of the stories instead of read every single one kept me interested in what each women had to say.  Further into my readings, I realized how unfair and cruel the society treats certain people, especially women.  Listening to some of these quotes has made me realize that many innocent people are locked up behind bars for petty crimes while actual criminals are getting away with murders, rapes, and theft.  Being able to actually hear the women's voices gets you involved and in a way you are able to visualize the different points they are trying to explain.  One of the quotes I remember specifically from the piece was when it said, "The trick to public secret is knowing what not to know."  The reason I like this quote so much is because I was able to understand it without reading it twice and I think everyone is able to grasp something different when they read that quote.  I grasp the fact that the quote is telling people to not be oblivious to the world and that there are secrets out there that are being kept from people but there are also secrets that are pubic which need to be addressed.

Deviant

     The artwork I chose to summarize was called Deviant: The Possession of Christian Shaw, by Donna Leishman.  This specific piece is an animated graphic based on the historical story of Christian Shaw and her demonic possession.  The reason I chose Deviant is because I consider myself as more of a visual learner and the way this story was illustrated helped me understand the concept by keeping me interested in the story.  It started out as a game, in which you were forced to click on different parts of the game and learn each type of symptom that Christian Shaw had experienced while she was being "possessed".  The game takes about 10 to 15 minutes to uncover every part of the story and you know when you've reached the end because a link shows up to the actual case story of what fully happened. So far, Deviant is my favorite E-literature piece that we have read because of the main reason that you could go back and play the game 10 more times and still find something new that you couldn't find before.  The amount of time and detail put into this game to illustrate such a deep story really helps the reader completely experience some of the personal "scary" awkward moments that Christian Shaw went through.  To those people who don't like reading too much and consider themselves a visual learner, deviant is a type of artwork that will draw you in with the game and make you interested in reading the full story to be able to grasp what you just went through while playing the game.

What is Digital Humanities?

     Digital humanities is a word that has numerous definitions within itself.  This is mainly because the word "digital" and the word "humanities" are both a part of our society and will play a huge role in our society the future as well.  When I think of the word digital, the first thing that comes to my mind is the word "symbol".  The reason everything is becoming digital is to make it easier to read information through computing and electronics by converting it into a numerical form using mainly 0's and 1's (symbols).  When I think of the word humanities, I think of the whole entire world. I was born in India where there is a completely different culture being followed and moved to the United States when I was 6 years old where the "humanities" being followed are the exact opposite.  Culture is only one type of humanities as humanities can also be related to all types of ancient modern languages, performing arts, history, and even communications.

     When you put digital and humanities together, you get the definition of the society we live in today. Digital humanities, in the past, used to be portrayed through cultural arts on walls, then adapted to paper, such as newspapers and books and has now transformed into iPads and Kindles.  Digital Humanities is the act of portraying humanities through digital media. I believe that if our entire species was able to come together digitally, the different types of humanities and cultures we believe in has potential to come together and refine our earth to further develop the use of technology.