Beck's Blog

Thoughts on our group SL Final Project

2007-12-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

While researching theories to use for our group's digital cyberdrama project in Second Life, I found myself constantly referring to Glassner’s Interactive Storytelling and the Janet Murray essays from the First Person text for inspiration.

I kept reminding myself and the members of our group of the importance of plot and the three-act form discussed in Glassner's Interactive Storytelling. I found Glassner’s Chapter 3 on plot, as well as Chapter 8 on structure, to be key.

I kept thinking that the unfolding events in our group's digital story had to remain true to the three-act elements of complication, development, and resolution. We had to have a coherent beginning, middle and end. We needed conflict, development and ultimately resolution in order for our attempt at cyberdrama to be successful.

Also, I found that it was important for us to keep in mind Janet Murray’s theory of cyberdrama. Murray believes that the computer is the perfect medium in which to attempt cyberdrama. Murray’s elements of cyberdrama, immersion, agency and transformation, were important for us to follow as well.

Our first challenge as a group was agreeing on story and plot ideas. We met in real life. We met online in Second Life. We realized that each of us contributed in our own creative and individual ways from script writing to research to taking creative photos in SL. Everyone within the group contributed. Ultimately, we were able to converge the technology of our computers and our experiences within SL to produce this cyberdrama.

The initial plot of our story began as a take off on Tarantino's film Kill Bill. The Kill Bill idea then morphed and mixed with elements of Alice in Wonderland. Suddenly, the creative juices were flowing. and we, as a group converging as a TechArt class and trying to converge SL and story narrative. It also probably helped that we were five pissed off chicks who were ready to hunt and kill our only male classmate, Will, who just happened to not be in class that night.

Overall, the experience with the cyberdrama project in SL has been very positive.
I have to admit that I am not a big fan of group projects. (I have had a couple of bad experiences with them here at Macon State.) But, I have to admit, the six of us in the TechArt class worked quite well together as a group.

Working on the SL project has definitely peeked my curiosity about machinima. I have been researching it online and have attempted to capture some film images. I have gotten Fraps and have been playing around with trying to capture filmed images within SL. I can see where working on this cyberdrama Techart project could lead to me possibly exploring a machinima project in the future.

My Second Life meets my Flickr account

2007-11-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

Exploring my SL experience through photos - my flickr

Ludology and Narratology in First Person and Second Life

2007-11-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

While reading the first six essays in First Person, I began to find myself drawing on my experiences with participating in Second Life to help me understand the concepts of narratology and ludology.

I find Janet Murray's essay "From Game-Story to Cyberdrama" to be interesting because it delves into the question of whether there can be an actual existence of a so-called game-story. Can a game-story exist where gaming and story elements combine?

As Murray writes, "So perhaps the question should be, is there a game story? For me it is always the story that comes first because storytelling is a core, human activity, one we take into every medium of expression, from the oral-formulaic to the digital multimedia" (3). I tend to agree with Murray. For me, the process of storytelling is a central activity that binds us together as a culture.

What Murray realizes is that as our modern culture relies increasingly on technology and our methods of traditional storytelling are bound to change because of the emergence of these new media technologies. What I am wondering is if this means that we will find the answer to discovering the key to integrating games and stories through the use of new media and technology. Murray writes that "We need a new medium to express this story, to practice playing this new game, and we have found it in the computer" (3).

I understand that storytelling, like games, has its forms, structures, and sets of rules. Essentially ludology is the discipline that studies games and play activities. I found Matthew Mateas's essay "A Preliminary Poetics for Interactive Drama and Games" to be interesting. Mateas incorporates elements of Aristotle's theory of drama with Murrays's aesthetic categories (immersion, agency and transformation) in order to better understand the ideal of the interactive story (Mateas 21).

By understanding what makes a story so appealing, I have been able to apply these elements to my participation with Second Life. I am aware of immersion, agency and transformation each time I log onto SL. Mateas states in his essay: "Murray suggests three ways of inducing immersion: structuring participation with a mask (an avatar), structuring participation as a visit, and making the interaction conventions (the interface mechanics) seamless" (26).

When I sit down at my iMac at home and log onto SL, I try to essentially forget about the computer that sits in front of me. I try to get beyond the fact that I am playing a game on a computer and focus solely on my avatar and what I want to accomplish in SL and achieve agency.

I understand that I am in control of my avatar's creation when I log onto SL. It is up to me to choose to actively particpate in creating my avatar's story. Out of creating my own "story" with my avatar, then I am essentially creating my own sense of agency. According to Murray, "Agency requires that we script the interactor as well as the world, so that we know how to engage the world, and so that we build up the appropriate expectations" (10).

Mateas writes"...that agency is a first-person experience induced by making moment-by-moment decisions within a balanced (materially and formally) interactive system" (27). When I log onto SL, I essentially am in control of creating my avatar's story, therefore I am the key to experiencing my own agency in SL.

My First Attempt at Building in SL

2007-11-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Building in Second Life

2007-11-05T19:37:00.001-08:00

When it comes to building or constructing things, I am like the anti-Martha Stewart. I am not really good with the hammers and nails and tools in real life...I like to think I am, but truth is, I try to fix things around my house and I usually end up doing more damage than good.

So, I was excited Thursday night when I read the notecard for Assignment 3 in SL - Build a Chair. Ah, cool! I can use tools in my virtual life and not have to worry about putting a nail through my hand or screwing anything up too bad!

I entered the Ivory Tower of Prims and found the scrolling text on the floor and began the tour. I immediately started collecting the notecards that were available at each tutorial station. What first caught ny attention of the building tutorial in SL was the reference to the movie Tron and the use of the word

I noticed that the turorials reminded me of the basic 3-D modeling I had to do for my ITEC 3236 class. The create and edit features in SL definitely remind me of Google's

Sketchup

program. I liked working with the Sketchup program. Of course, I never built a chair in Sketcup, just 3-D models of houses, but I felt like I had a decent understanding of the SL building process because of my exposure to programs such as GIMP and Sketchup.

I decided that I wanted to build a funky bus stop bench. So, I chose the block as my feature for the base of the bench. Next, I use the stretch tool to elongate the block to form the bottom of my bench. I then chose the material wood for the bench. I added the woodgrain texture as well. Then, I chose a hot pink color for the base of the bench.

I next composed the back of the bench. I was able to choose a second box and then use the edit tool to manipulate the size and shape to form a long, narrow rectangle. I then used the move feature to physically move this piece to form the back of the bench. After I attached the two prims together, I chose the same wood grain texture for the back and gave it a dark forest green color.

I envision putting grafiti and post-it bills onto the back and front sides of the bench. Unfortunately, I do not know how to write or make post-it bills in SL yet. I sat in on scripting class last night and am looking for another class to take to try and learn how to make grafiti for my bench.

I went ahead and took pictures of me sitting on my bench. I was excited I was able to build it myself. It seems fairly simple, but I feel it really gave me a good working knowledge of the building basics for SL. I am going to keep working on my bench and will continue to post photos on flickr when I get it looking the way i want.

Well, I have to admit that I am much better at learning to build or "rez" things in SL than I am in my first life! I am not the anti-Martha Stewart of SL yet...but, watch out. Give me a bit more time to hone my skills and I will be!

Crashing in Second Life

2007-11-05T19:18:00.001-08:00

I was in Myrtle Beach, SC on Thursday night for a convention I was filming for my final project documentary in ENGL 4451. I knew I would be missing Techart class, but I wasn't concerned as we are meeting in SL on Thursday nights. I took Nick's Compaq laptop with me to SC to meet up with the class on SL.

I downloaded SL on the laptop at home and tested it out. I was able to connect to the Internet just fine; the computer has enough memory to run SL. So, I was not too concerned about encountering problems with SL while I was at the conference. Ha! What a false sense of security I had!

I signed onto Second Life at 8:00pm from my hotel room. I took about ten steps around the ALOHA'S bar, went to find my friend Jet Good and then proceeded to crash. Augh!

I shut down the computer and rebooted. I signed onto SL again. I was able to stay on for about five minutes then I crashed again. What the heck??

Once again, I shut down. I waited about five minutes and rebooted. I entered SL and retrieved my notecard for my assignment. I teleported to Ivory Tower of Primitives and found the floating text to begin the tour. Once I began to download the notecards in the Ivory Tower, I crashed again! I was not pleased.

I decided that maybe their was something wrong with the DSL connection in my hotel room. I packed up my computer, grabbed a pen and notebook, got a Diet Dr. Pepper, and headed downstairs to the main lobby where there was free wi-fi connection.

There were four other people in the lobby with their laptops. After finding a free chair, I proceeded to log onto SL again. I was able to keep the conncetion much better in the lobby. I wish I had started off downstairs instead of in the hotel room. I was able to get through a good portion of the tour before I lost my signal.

I found the entire ordeal stressing. One minute I am connected to SL and taking my tour, the next minute SL has crashed. I realized as I became more and more irritated that I am really enjoying the SL experience. I decided that as I was unhappy the computer and SL were crashing and that I was missing my SL time.

I had lousy Internet service the entire time at Myrtle Beach. I complained to the front desk manager about the loust reception and was told: "That happens a lot here."

Well, I finally made it home Sunday and have been catching up on my missed time in SL!

Unmasking Second Life

2007-10-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

I can be my own worst enemy at times, especially when it comes to taking on new forms of media. What is so difficult and challenging about learning new media challenges? I'm a CIT major for crying out loud. A part of me loves it and another part of me...the unsteady, unsure and unconfident part of me dreads it...Why?

The only thing I can think of is - FEAR. Fear is my true enemy. Fear makes me freak out over something as simple as learning a new technology. Why? Fear of the unknown, fear of failure...fear of screwing something up? I have learned that the best way I deal with my fear of something is to just say: "Screw it! And just do it and learn it."

This is exactly what has happened with me and my introduction to Second Life. When Second Life was brought up in class, I had NO idea what it even was. I had to go home and look it up on google. An online participation game through an avatar living basically a "second life" for me. Hmmm...interesting and yet scary at the same time.

I don't play video games...at least not since we had the Atari and a Sega Genesis. The last video games I remember playing were Frogger and Q-Bert and Donkey Kong. My younger brother had the Sega and the Nintendo growing up - not me. We got PONG for Christmas one year - which I believe is probably still in my parents' attic somewhere. So, the thought of learning to play a character participation game like Second Life initially scared me. But, I decided to say "Screw it! I'm learning to play Second Life!"

I am beginning to get the hang of playing SL now. It has taken me a week or so just to learn the basics from the tutorial. While choosing my avatar, I was reminded of Glassner's idea of a "living mask"(375). In designing my avatar, I was essentially creating a virtual version of my character Becca Akroyd...my living mask so to speak. I was choosing my height, my weight, my body type, and eye color.

I initially chose my avatar to look like the Girl Next Door. I think I chose this av because it felt safe. It was more comfortable for me to look like an average person during my introduction to the game. I was a bit self conscious about looking too wild or crazy; but now that I am understanding more and more about living in the Second Life world, I have a feeling my originally chosen "safe" girl next door avatar look is about to change.

In Thursday's class, we were given our first SL assignment. During the course of the class period, we were to sign on to SL and meet new people, mingle and interact with them in SL. Also, we had to interview a person about their avatar.

I went to Hanjo. While I was walking around, I was approached by a female av named Jet Good. She immediately said "Hi! How are you?" We began to chat and I informed her I was actually playing SL while in a college classroom. Jet Good was intrigued by this and began asking me questions. She asked "Where are you in school?" and "What class dares to play SL for homework?"

I informed Jet Good that I was in Macon, GA and she told me she was in Amsterdam. When I asked what she was doing up so late, she laughed and replied that she always stays up late and that she was waiting up for her boyfriend who was out buying some pot.

I asked Jet Good if I could interview her about her avatar and her SL experience and if I could also get her permission to take her picture for my assignment. Jet Good said "Sure, why not?"

First of all, I asked Jet Good how long she had been playing SL. Jet Good replied that she had joined SL about 10 months ago and that it took her about the first 3 months to actually get into playing. Jet Good said she knew friends who played and were addicted to it.

When asked about the look of her avatar, Jet Good laughed and said she did not enter the game looking like she looks now. Like me, she initially chose a fairly simple and plain avatar. She said that she could tell from the look of my avatar that I was probably new to the game (because at the time I was wearing no extras like jewelry, hats, skin textures or tattoos).

Jet Good asked if I would like to join her at ALOHAS, which is where she works as a beach club manager. Also, she works at the bar a few nights a week where she makes enough money in tips to help pay the rent for her house on the beach. She also told me her SL boyfriend is a club DJ at ALOHA.

Jet Good teleported me into ALOHA. The Club was hopping. Avatars were dancing and hanging out at the bar. Jet Good showed me how avatars can touch the big disco ball above the bar and join in the dancing.

While we were dancing, I asked Jet Good what she thought of my avatar. She said it was nice, but plain. I laughed and explained that I chose the "safe" look of the girl next door. Jet Good told me she experimented with changing her look over the course of a couple of months and it would probably take some time for me to perfect my look as well.

She offered to take me shopping for free stuff around the bar. So, we walked around. She gave the grand tour of ALOHA and we went shopping together! How cool! I picked up a couple of free t-shirts and a new pair of jeans, which I put on. Then, Jet Good showed me where to get free jewelry. I chose a sparkly silver necklace that says "aloha" on it.

All in all, I would have to say I had a positive experience with my first Second Life assignment. The assignment definitely forced me to interact with people. I have been hanging out in ALOHA since then. On Saturday afternoon there was a dance party. Jet Good also sent me an invitation to the Disco Inferno Roller Disco party on Saturday, October 27 between 12-2am. From what I understand, it is a big Halloween party where you can come dressed in costume. I'm not a big fan of disco, but I plan to check it out anyway!

Interactive Storytelling at the Georgia State Fair

2007-10-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

Glassner writes that "Audiences enter a storytelling experience in many different states of mind(93)." So, for my digital story, I decided to engage my audience with a trip to the Georgia State Fair. I felt that most of the audience would be able to relate to attending a state fair. I knew I could get interesting shots of the fair and encorporate them into my project.

The last time I had visited the Georgia State Fair was when I was in high school in the late 1980's. I am not sure I have been to a fair since then. I can't recall attending a single fair in the twelve plus years I lived in Los Angeles. So, I not only looked at a trip to the fair as a project topic, I looked at it as an adventure.

It's funny the reactions I got from people when I informed them I was going to the fair to take photos and video for my digital story project. Reactions I got ranged from "You'll see a lot of fights" to "Be sure and take a guy with you" to "Make sure you leave before it gets dark." Wow! I was immediately intrigued. What goes on after dark at the fair in downtown Macon? Well, as I learned from my experiences in shooting "Fair Night", not a lot really goes on at the fair on a Wednesday night. I'm still not sure why I got the sketchy reactions from everyone. If I had found crime and chaos at the fair, then I might have been a bit more understanding of the reactions and comments.

Nick and I packed up my cameras on a Wednesday night and drove to the fair. We arrived at 6:30pm. From the moment we stepped up to the ticket booth, I was overwhelmed by sights, sounds and the smells of the Georgia State Fair. I knew this would be an interesting subject for my story.

In structuring my digital story, I kept in mind Glassner's idea that "A story follows an interesting protagonist seeking a clear goal by addressing an ever-escalating set of difficulties(36)." The protagonist of my digital story is my boyfriend Nick. He was actually a very good sport about being in my story. He was open to anything I wanted to photograph him doing at the fair. I concentrated on the fair experience...the food, the carnival games and rides. (It also helped that there was a food stall everywhere you looked. So, when crankiness did set in with my protagonist, I could appease him with the occasional corn dog or flesh of some dead animal on a stick.)

I enjoy the photography process. I have worked on my own short film and video projects before. I have a small, independent film production company with my friend who is a director. I have been mainly invloved in the actual producing side of storytelling with those projects. I have essentially produced them, secured financing, crews, equipment. I have never been the director behind the camera. So, I enjoyed the freedom of taking the shots myself and getting to edit them the way I thought was best.

Overall, I enjoyed putting together my digital fair story. I like the idea of combining photographs and images to tell a story. I am also taking Mrs. Chalfa's Digital Storytelling class this semester. We are in the process of writing a script, collecting images and creating a digital story about change for that class. So, I feel that reading Glassner's techniques on interactive storytelling has allowed me a solid knowledge and foundation for digital storytelling with my Fair Night project.

Interactive Storytelling and Goodfellas

2007-09-25T11:07:00.001-07:00

In the book Interactive Storytelling, Andrew Glassner states that, "A story follows an interesting protagonist seeking a clear goal by addressing an ever-escalating set of difficulties"(36).

The character of Henry Hill, from Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas, is an example of Glassner's unpleasant yet fascinating protagonist "anti-hero" (76). Scorsese's portrayal of Hill's life onscreen is like a scary, gut wrenching amusement park ride. Hill's life is filled with the sights, sounds, and the collision of chaotic violence that permeates wiseguy life.

Scorsese uses character voice over narration to provide the audience with insight into what Hill thinks and feels. As the director and storyteller, Scorsese clues us in from the beginning when Hill says in voice over narration, "All I've ever wanted to be is a gangster." As the audience, we know that Hill's goal to be a gangster will lead him to a life a chaos, crime and violence.

Hill's life is also filled with intense conflict and complications that Scorsese develops through the three-act form. The three-act plot structure includes complication, development, and resolution (53). The conflicts and complications Hill faces begin immediately.

The film opens with a memorable inciting incident that sets the plot conflict and complication in motion. Glassner writes, "Whatever structure the plot follows, certain elements are always present. There is an inciting incident that starts the events off. The hero must then take action to restore the balance of forces, passing through a series of struggles, each one more difficult and with higher risks than the one before" (66).

Scorsese wastes no time in putting us right in the midst of the inciting incident and plot chaos. As white title credits zoom across the screen like speeding cars, we hear the sounds of traffic. Horns beep and tires screech. The sounds of the cars grows louder and louder and then suddenly, without warning, Scorsese places us in a moving car with Hill behind the wheel. A thud is heard off screen. We are not sure if Henry has hit a deer or something else with the car. As the car rolls to a stop along the highway, Hill emerges with his fellow gangsters Jimmie and Tommy, and we learn that there is actually someone in the trunk. Within this opening scene, the inciting incident has been established. The plot of Goodfellas will spring from this one incident: the killing of rival mobster Billy Batts.

As the plot of Goodfellas continues to unfold, Henry encounters a series of conflicts and complications. Hill has conflicts with his parents over his desire to be a wiseguy. He has conflicts with his wife Karen over money, other women, sex and drugs. Hill's life develops even more complications when he is sent to prison. It is while in prison that Hill begins to deal drugs. Hill's involvement in dealing drugs will lead to his biggest complication: a major conflict with Paulie.

Each of these conflicts and confrontations help build on Hill's character flaws. The character of Henry Hill is an example of what Glassner refers to as a "Man Versus Self" conflict. Glassner writes, "In this form of conflict, the hero's biggest problem is himself. The main barrier that prevents him from achieving his heart's desire lies within his own heart" (74). It is Hill's conflict within himself and his involvement with drugs that will lead to his final downfall and to Paulie's (his father figure) final rejection of him.

As Hill gets deeper and deeper into drug dealing, Scorsese blitzes us with the full blown drug- induced paranoia of Hill. Scorsese's camera follows Hill at a dizzying pace as he rushes around the kitchen and makes a meat gravy sauce. Scorsese continues the dizzying speed of the scene with a series of jump cuts as Hill heads to the hospital to get his brother, travels across town to unload guns, runs back to the house to check on his sauce and finally, heads to his girlfriend's house to pick up the package of cocaine. As Scorsese builds the frenzied pacing, it is evident that our protagonist and "anti-hero" Hill is about to fall.

All of his life, Hill has been taught to never, ever rat on his friends. It is within betrayal of this code of honor that Hill will face his resolution. Each conflict that Hill has encountered has helped to build toward the conflict resolution he will ultimately face. Hill's resolution to his conflicts and complications will be his decision to turn state's evidence against Paulie and Jimmie, to leave his gangster lifestyle and to join the Witness Protection Program.
.

Microsoft's Annoying msdewey Search Engine

2007-09-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's search engine http://www.msdewey.com is the most annoying thing I have seen on the internet in awhile. When I want to look up information, I want to be able to look it up...hit Google and just get the info I need...I don't need attitide from some bitch in a computer when I just want to look up sites on mountain bikes or weekend travel.

Who wants to be annoyed and harrassed by Ms. Dewey...smacking her chewing gum, shooting rubber bands at the monitor, knocking on the glass, telling me I have picked a boring subject to research. I didn't ask for her opinion anyway! So shut the hell up!

It's definitely attention getting...funny to a certain extint...but the bottom line is it's just down right annoying after a few seconds of being on the search engine site...Let's hope this is NOT the newest search engine craze of the internet.

Convergence Culture & Me

2007-09-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

Convergence culture is definitely playing a huge role in my life. I have been working in the television and film production industry for the last fifteen years. I dropped out of F.S.U. and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990's. I was determined to pursue a career in the film industry. I began working as a set production assistant. Over the last fifteen years, I have worked my way up from set p.a. to production coordinator, production accountant and finally, as an associate producer at Fox Sports.

I have watched with awe and at times concern as tv and film production has become digital. Anyone that has access to a digital camera, cell phone or Digital video camera is now a producer or director. We have Google and YouTube to thank for that. I have 20-year-old production assistants at work that can't type more than 4 words a minute when I need a memo or letter typed, but they can text message over 1,000 words per second on their Helio Oceans. Augh! So, I have experienced first-hand the rise of the convergence culture that Henry Jenkins describes.

Jenkins describes convergence as the technological, industrial, cultural and social changes in the ways media circulate within our culture. In the last fifteen years alone, I have personally witnessed the explosion of the internet. I remember when I bought my very first Macintosh laptop in early 1991. I was so psyched it had an external modem with it! (Thankfully technology changed, Mooore's Law took off and the DSL line was invented!) When I got that first modem, I immediately set up an AOL account and was introduced to the world of e-mail and chat groups. I was addicted. I was living in Los Angeles, but I could email and communicate with friends who had computers and modems throughout the country.

Also, I began to seek out information on the world wide web. I realized what a vast collection of knowledge was accessible via my keyboard. I had dropped out of college, but I still had the desire to learn, read, and understand what was going on in the world. I enjoy knowing what's going on in the world. So, I used the web to read online newspapers like the New York Times. I did online research for work and scripts, as well as for participating in communities/chat groups of people who shared my similar interests in films and the film industry. To this day I still belong to Hollywood information/job sites such http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/ and, of course, http://www.imdb.com/. I have recently cruised Henry Jenkins website http://www.henryjenkins.org/ and found interesting articles on female directors missing from the AFI's top movie lists http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/07/reconsidering_the_afis_100_fil.html.

But, I have not just spent hours on the internet seeking out movies. I began to take a genuine interest in politics during the 2000 Presidential campaign. I directly attribute the convergence culture and the merging of media, entertainment and politics with influencing my participation and interest in politics. I never voted until I was 22 years old. I pretty much ignored politics and all things political growing up. My Mother is an artist with leftist leanings and my Father is a research scientist whose attitudes and views on life remind me of those of Agent Dana Sculley's on The X-Files - always researching and looking for the scientific data and explanations to life.

Up until early 2000, I really expressed no interest in what was happening in the world of politics until a friend I from work began forwarding emails to me from the San Ferando Valley Young Democrats(SFVYD) http://www.sfvyd.org/. An entire new world of politics was opened up to me. The entertainment industry (at least the production crews and IATSE union members) rallied to support Al Gore. I began to correspond with members of the SFVYD via email. Then, I dared to write a couple of commentaries on various blog subjects (Gore's support of the entertainment industry and arts community) and next thing I knew I was fully absorbed in the 2000 Presidential Campaign. I soon discovered http://www.moveon.org/. It is perhaps through my association with the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats via email and blogging that I really was able to understand and apply Jenkins' concept of a convergence culture.

Jenkins writes on page 245: "We are trying to hammer out the ethical codes and social contracts that will determine how we will relate to one another just as we are trying to determine how this power will insert itself into the entertainment system or into the political process. Part of what we must do is figure out how - and why - groups with different backgrounds, agendas, perspectives, and knowledge can listen to one another and work together toward the common good. We have a lot to learn." And learning via all the new media outlets and channels available to us is essential. People must learn to seek out their news, information and knowledge from various sources. Who trusts the mainstream network news anymore?

Did I mention that during the 2000 Presidential Campaign I was employed by FOX Studios? Yes, FOX Studios in LA over on Pico Blvd - where Rupert Murdoch sits atop his penthouse suite in the crystal tower building ruling the NewsCorp empire, buying the Dow Jones and all the other media outlets he can. Let's just say, I have learned to develop a healthy awareness of how the corporate world influences the media world thanks to my years spent at FOX. The very fact that FOX News refers to itself as the "Fair and Balanced" news outlet is sheer entertainment. Fox News makes reporting news as much about entertainment as does The Daily Show, Rush Limbaugh and Neil Boortz. I find it interesting when people fail to seek out other sources for news and entertainment. I don't personally like Bill O'Reilly, but I do tune in every once in a while to see what in the hell he is talking about.

I guess with the disillusionment that came from the letdown of the 2000 and 2004 elections, I do find myself seeking news from a variety of sources...not just CNN or FOX or MSNBC. Somedays I learn more about politics and what's going on in the world by reading blogs. I try to read Mo Rocca's blog every few days - I'm not so keen on his blogs about banana peels and baby showers, but he does raise some interesting questions as far as political satire goes. He has recently blogged about Fred Thompson's decision to enter the Republican race. Great. Just what Americans need - another actor as president - sacrcastic and satirical - sometime I do just need a good laugh!
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2007/09/09/starring-fred-thompson-as-the-president/.

With next years' political elections on the horizon (in 14 months!), it is time for people, or the citizens as Jenkins calls them, to begin to embrace the convergence of technology, media and politics in our social culture. It is ultimately up to the us, the people, to decide to actively participate in the convergence culture - to get on board and embrace the knowledge and diversity that makes us all unique and have something to offer.

Convergance Culture - Zapper land

2007-09-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

Zapper - Industry term for viewers who move nomadically and restlessly across the television dial, rarely watching more than a small segment of any given program.

I live with an avid Zapper. His name is Nick - I love him to death - but he's a Zapper. He takes charge of any of the number of remotes we have - for the TV, the satellite, the DVR, the DVD player, the VCR (which is so obsolete at this point and covered in a layer of dust ...that I honestly can't remember the last time we used it) - It doesn't matter. If the programming or information is not what he's into - click..click..click...he is on to something else! He can flip through 150+ satellite channels at record speed...through any and every program, soap opera, commercial, music video, newscast -whatever is on all 9 HBO channels - TV is something that has become boring. He has no patience for it. Now that he is a master at zapping the television, I notice he is doing on the internet as well. If a website takes more than mere seconds to download..he's moved on...to better and presumably faster downloading websites!