Just playing? - the Ethics (essay)

Not Just Playing!!

Game always regards as a bad thing as it always related to violence and sex. In addition, it is essay for us to addicted to it. Thus,many parents ban their childrens to play video games.This essay is aim to correct people’s mistaken believe toward game and point out the advantages of playing game.

Video game has its own value that benefits us. According to Susan, game draw the core academic disciplines of reading, math, and social studies. (1) (David M, Susan.P.66) take Restaurant City as a examples that it includes some math and business skills for the player to think deeply about. In the game,the players need to place their tables cleverly. It is because the way of which they place their tables directly affect their “restaurant’s profits”. They need to use the knowledge of math to think out the efficient way for their “staff” to move and the fewer places for staff to move, the more efficient is and the profits can be more! Also, the business skills are also seen in this game. The players need to make good use of their “staff” as the number of staff is limited. It is better for them to turn their staff in different dutries between janitor, waiter and chef according to the condition of restaurant. No wonder why Lee say that this (Restaurant City) wasn't a game; it was a business (2)(Lee,05.2009) .The game actually is a way to train a good manager and encourage players to think more deeply.

In addition, video game enhance people’s creativity. For example, "iCarly encourages creativity with its great characters and storylines," said David Oxford, Activision Publishing.(3) (Nov 14, 2009). Restaurant City provides over 800 items and let their players’ restaurants being visited and rated to encourage players to create their characteristic restaurant and avatars.

Apart from creativity, games encourage initiative.(1) (Susan.P.66)Since games also include some competitions amoug players. Thus, players need to have initiative to fight what they want if they would like to win in the game. They can’t be in a passive way. Therefore, game encourages people to fight for what they want and have initiative.

Finally, game maintain friendship. A lot of online game and social game allow players to interact with their friends (5) ( Gelles, May 26, 2009). The Awards system in Restaurant City encourage people to give gift to friends, help Friend in need, visit friends as well as appreciate others. Such game can enhance the social skill of players and it is what people need in the real life too.

To sum up, game has a lot of advantages and not just for fun! It gives us a chance to experience or practise something that we don’t have in the real world.Some skills we learn from the game also can be adopted in the real life such as social skill. Game actually is not only related to violence and sex. It depends on the choice of player choose as well as what and how much players can learn from it.

Reference:
1. "Media Violence". David M, Susan Musser and Book Editors.Greenhaven Press.
2. "Facebook 'brain drain'? It depends". Joanne Lee, Straitstimes.com Editor 2009-05-09 (accessed 15Nov2009)
3. Activision Publishing, Inc.; Activision Publishing Releases Nickelodeon's iCarly for Wii and Nintendo DS/ Nintendo DSiAnonymous. Leisure & Travel Week. Atlanta: Nov 14, 2009. pg. 19 (accessed 13Nov2009)
4. “Levelling up is the name of the game”. Joanne Lee, Straitstimes.com Editor (accessed 15Nov2009)
5. “Facebook finds treasure in games”. David Gelles. Financial Times. pg. 18 (accessed 25Nov2009)

Just playing? -the ethics...Article 6

"Facebook finds treasure in games"
David Gelles. Financial Times. London (UK): May 26, 2009. pg. 18



News analysis ; Software developers look for new ways of benefiting from social networking, writes David Gelles
Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has a second job. On top of managing growth of the popular social networking site, she is also a chef in Restaurant City , one of the thousands of games that run on Facebook.
Facebook's platform, which allows third-party developers to build services and games that run inside the social network, celebrated its second birthday over the weekend. In that time, it has spawned a new industry of profitable application developers, and a host of imitators. It has also allowed Facebook users, such as Ms Sandberg, to interact with friends through the new category of social gaming.
"The world is moving more and more towards applications that are layered over social networks, whether it's Facebook, FriendFeed or Twitter," said Michael Wolf, the former president of MTV Networks who is now on the board of advisers at Slide, one of the leading application developers.
"The Facebook platform set the standard for creating these ecosystems."
The growth of Facebook's platform has mirrored expansion of the site itself. Facebook now has more than 200m active users, and the company says most users have at least one application.
There are now more than 52,000 applications in the App Directory, and more than 100 of these boast at least 1m active users.
Interacting with applications keeps users on the site, and in some cases, drives them to it.
"Users that are using the platform are more engaged and spend more time on the site," said Ethan Beard, Facebook's director of platform marketing. "And people are coming to play some specific applications. Some of them are borderline addictive."
Most likely, the addictive ones are also moneymakers. All the major developers are private, and do not release revenue figures. However, the major social game developers all claim to be profitable.
Zynga, the largest developer with 42m users for its games, which include Texas Hold'Em Poker and Mafia Wars , is reported to be nearing annual sales of $100m. Playfish, the maker of Restaurant City, is said to be approaching $30m in sales. Together, developers working on Facebook's platform are expected to make more than $500m this year - perhaps more than Facebook itself.
"That's the beauty of having game DNA instead of web DNA," said Sebastien de Halleux, chief operating officer of Playfish. "Games have no problem making money."
Since the Facebook platform launched, several other media companies have introduced similar offerings. MySpace announced its own platform in October 2007. Apple has found enormous success with its iPhone application platform.
But while Apple takes a cut of all applications sold through its App store, Facebook applications are free to use, and the company receives no share of the revenues developers generate through the sale of virtual goods or credits for advanced game play.
Instead, Facebook says it sees value in building an audience and selling advertisements around the applications.
The networking site is also working on a payments system that would let it get a slice of the transactions being made within the applications.
Working with the Facebook platform is not without its challenges. Frequent changes to Facebook's design mean developers have to adapt quickly.
"It feels like the rules of engagement seem to change every three months," said Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga. "You don't sleep much."
And the success enjoyed by leading developers is inspiring imitators, which means more competition.
In an effort to help users identify the best applications, Facebook last week launched its Verified Apps programme, through which the company gives an application its stamp of approval.
Now Facebook is using the popularity of its platform to expand into other parts of the web.
With Facebook Connect, users can access more than 8,000 other sites, including Netflix and Citysearch, with their Facebook logins.
"With the platform, Facebook is becoming the social plumbing wherever people go and wherever games go," Mr Pincus said.
Credit: By David Gelles in San Francisco

CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY

GAME: RESTAURANT CITY

Just playing? -the ethics...Book

"Media Violence". David M, Susan Musser and Book Editors.Greenhaven Press.

(1)"Video game and computer networks have assumed central roles in our daily lives. For better or for worse, the mass medis are having an enormous impact on our values, belief, and behaviours." P.24

(2)"we define media violence as visual portrayals of acts of physical aggression by one human against another." P.26

(3)"In recent years, evidence has accumulated that human and primate young have an innate tendency to imitate whomever they observe....As children observe violent behaviour, they are prone to imitate it."P.28-29

(4)"video game affect emotions. Through classical conditioning, fear, anger, or genernal arousal can become linked with specifid stimuli after only a few expoures. These emotions influence behavior in social setting away from the media source through stimulus generalization. A child may then react with inappropriate anger or fear in a novel situation ..." P.29

(5)"Violent video games typically reward aggression and teach players that violence is an acceptable form of problem solving. After long-term exposure to violence game, this message is ingrained in players and can lead to lasting negativeeffects." P.49

(6)" With each exposure, the child's perception of the world is shifted to include violence as a common and acceptable occurence. The child's behaviors evolve to correspond with this perception and can follow "behavioral scripts" established through experiencing violent media." P.53

(7)" the bystander effect describes how violent media desensitizes its users to the real-life violence making them generally less caring and sympathetic to victim of violence and less likely to intervene when they witness violence. finally, the appetite effect demonstrates that using violent media often increases children's desire to see more violence."P.54

(8)"When children play violent games,... their heart rates increase and their blood pressurerises. they begin to think agressively and to solve problems with violence. In this heightened and primed state, children are more likely to perceive other people's behavior as aggressive and they are more likely to respond agressively."P.54

(9)" Game are also complex problem-solveing systems that develop logical thinking, decision making, and encourage a scientific approach to the unknow."P.65

(10)"Video game have a powerful potential for learning and training . As well, there is a growing body of practise, products andresearch to support the notion that games are a valuable addition to the set of tools teachers are using in formal education."P.65

(11)"game draw the core academic disciplines of reading, math, and social studies while also encouraging teamwork, initiative, creativity, problem solving and leadership."P.66

e.g. Railroad Tycoon (Firaxis Game)
Muzzy Lane's Making History

(12)"the game encourage students to use core academic skills in the pursuit of solving complex problem. Thinking deeply, not flicking buttions."P.68

(13) "in Quest Atlantis, player focus on environmental issues ..." P.69

Just playing? -the ethics...Article 5

"Facebook 'brain drain'? It depends". Joanne Lee, Straitstimes.com Editor
2009-05-09 (accessed 15Nov2009)

LAST month, a study found that college students who use Facebook tend to have poorer school results than non-users - apparently a half grade point lower.
The study was done in Ohio Dominican University, by researchers Aryn Karpinski and Adam Duberstein. It concluded: 'It may be that if it wasn't for Facebook, some students would still find other ways to avoid studying, and would still get lower grades. But perhaps the lower GPAs could actually be because students are spending too much time socialising online.'
What balderdash.
And yet another study, touted by the Freakonomics blog, by Baroness Susan Greenfield, a University of Oxford neuroscientist, warned that the instant feedback and impersonal communication offered by social networking sites could drive behaviour in negative directions.
'As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity,' she said.
Is this 'Facebook Brain Drain' for real? Does reconnecting with your friends, trawling through their pictures and interacting through games and quizzes really lower your IQ?
Then again, the Freakonomics authors - University of Chicago economist Steve Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner - did juxtapose those Facebook studies with other studies that claimed that surfing the Web increases workplace productivity.
So does social networking really mean users develop more slowly intellectually? Or do mentally challenged people just naturally self-select into seemingly pointless Internet habits?
I'm going to sit on the fence and say the answers should be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The 'Facebook Brain Drain' really bothered me when people started talking about it. Those who never really got the whole online social networking thing were saying 'I told you so'. My parents even encouraged me to return to more 'serious journalism' and turn my back on this 'digerati stuff'.
Then I started playing Playfish's latest online game on Facebook - Restaurant City.
It is much like SimCity - a city-building simulation game, first released in 1989, which morphed into various versions of best-selling games by gaming company Maxis. In SimCity, you build cities, playground parks, condominiums, safari parks to keep the people happy.
In Restaurant City, you are a restaurateur, trying to collect ingredients for high-end dishes, decorate your eatery, hire your friends and keep your customers happy. The aim of the game is to make money to build bigger and more popular restaurants as you level up.
Initially, I thought it was just another silly Facebook game. You have a few tables, one or two hired staff, and just let the game run in one of your background screens while you do something else - like, er, work, for example.
But as you start levelling up and your restaurant gets bigger, you have new responsibilities. You must provide toilet facilities for your guests, hire cleaners for those toilets, hire more wait staff and cooks. It reminded me of my 'Operations' module in business school.
I had a couple of cooks who'd be busy flipping their pans, but not enough wait staff to serve the dishes and clear the tables. Then when the wait staff got their act together, the customers would mess up the toilets.
This was turning out to be a game not just about collecting ingredients for exotic dishes any more. It was turning out to be a production line - a production line with bottlenecks, excess capacity and human resource problems.
In B-school, I remember very clearly a video we watched showing a clothing manufacturer's production line which appointed members to do specific tasks - like sew the leg seams of a pair of trousers or attach zips. The bottleneck problems occurred when the thread broke on a sewing machine, needed to be replaced and caused a pile to build up.
The lesson: Train your staff to double or triple up on duties. If there was a pile with zips to be attached, the person doing the sewing would have to stop what she's doing, help attach zips until the bottleneck eases up, then return to her designated duty. Common sense, you would think, but apparently not to production line managers in the real world.
Well, not this online restaurateur. My waitresses double up as toilet cleaners when the need arises, and my chefs help out with clearing the tables when business gets too brisk.
Spend money to decorate the walls and separate tables for customer privacy? Forget about it. My tables surround the kitchen area so the waiters walk a minimal amount.
After a week, I've realised it's not a game you can just leave on. I have to keep my eyes on the business every five minutes to make sure idle chefs help clear tables and/or clean toilets. This wasn't a game; it was a business.
Are Facebook games a waste of time and brain cells? It depends. On what? On whether the lessons - social or mental - are identified and absorbed by the Facebooker.
But why do I do it? Ask me another time, when I'm not reassigning my staff to cover for one another in my restaurant!
joannel@sph.com.sg
EDITOR Are Facebook games a waste of time and brain cells? It depends. On what? On whether the lessons - social or mental - are identified and absorbed by the Facebooker.

Comment: I agree that restaurant city can train my brain!!!

Just playing? -the ethics...Article 4

"Levelling up is the name of the game "By Joanne Lee, Straitstimes.com Editor




HOW big is your farm?
That's a question I was asked the other day in reference to a game on Facebook.
Sheepishly, I replied: 'Which one?'
There has been a rash of farming games on Facebook: Farmville, Farm Town and Country Story are among the more popular ones. I've played them all.
These 'applications', which social networking site users add to their profile accounts, have grown hugely in popularity.
Farmville alone had 55.7 million monthly users as of yesterday. All of these players buy seeds, plough plots of land, plant the seeds and reap the crops when they are ready - all done with a few clicks of the mouse.
And it is not only the young who engage in this, though a National Institute of Education study has discovered that Singapore students spend 27 hours a week on massively multiplayer online role-playing games.
Adults well into their 30s are also participating.
When people began signing up for the social networking site a few years ago, things weren't quite so advanced.
Applications were mere boxes that were added to your profile page. People sent things to one another - from birthday cakes to flowers and happy pills - via different applications.
These first-generation applications did not offer an opportunity for application developers to monetise the trend. Then the game developers got smart: They made people start sending stuff through games.
The second-generation social games are now banking on players spending real cash to buy online money, with which to buy in-game products.
Some games such as Pet Society and Restaurant City, both developed by Playfish, get users to set up customisable characters that interact with one's Facebook friends who are also playing the cartoon-like game.
A pet in Pet Society visits other pets' homes, motivating players to decorate their homes by spending gold coins in shops. Players in Restaurant City offer different dishes, swop ingredients and earn coins as game-generated characters visit and show off their eateries.
Zynga operates Mafia Wars which lets players gang up, buy weapons and fight one another. Playdom's Sorority Life gets them to dress up, climb the social ladder and flame other people.
These games are not targeted at hard-core gamers. They aim to earn revenue from the way social networkers live on the Internet.
So why do people play these games?
It's all about 'levelling up'. In all these games, you start at Level One and gain experience before moving on to the next step. Higher levels let you do more advanced things.
I asked a friend who had stuck with Playfish's Country Story, growing and harvesting crops to achieve its current maximum level 54, why he had done so.
He said: 'I wanted to grow the ginseng!' Ginseng is available only at Level 54, you see.
Higher levels also allow you to dress up, buy the latest rock star outfit for your pet or kit out your farm with decorative items like picnic tables.
And just as your social networking profile provides a sketch of you, the way you customise your character says a lot about who you are. For example, local blogger Wendy Cheng's farm on Farmville features pink gates and pink cherry trees planted in a big heart shape - choices consistent with her pink-loving girly character as manifested on her blog Xiaxue.com.
Something else that might drive you to attain higher levels is that you can show off your standing. The games usually feature a bar indicating your position relative to your friends'. Levelling up therefore affords you bragging rights.
All this has made the social gaming trend big money for developers. They tempt players to level up; you can buy game money to purchase items that help you level up faster. I know people who have spent more than US$50 (S$70) a month on this pursuit.
But before I got that far, I deleted my farm. It was painful as I'd built up a sizeable holding of artichokes, watermelons and glossy brown horses. It is now even more painful to see my friends posting photos online of their massive farms boasting exotic produce like pepper flowers. But the game took up too much time and I didn't want to leave my crops to wither and die during the lengthy periods I was away from my farm.
But the thing is, Farmville might actually have saved my information, meaning I could resurrect my farm just by hitting a button.
Now, how big was my farm again?
joannel@sph.com.sg

Comment: ENHANCE OUR CREATIVITY // MAINTAIN THE FRIENDSHIP

Website:

(1) the Video Game Critic's Atari 2600 Reviews
http://www.videogamecritic.net/2600.htm


Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - "Violence" (Game Trailer)


Restaurant City by Playfish



Facebook Games Addiction

Just playing? -the ethics...Article 3

"Computer Game Ethic"Reeder, Sara. Compute. Greensboro: Jan 1992. Vol. 14, Iss. 1; pp. 100-104 (accessed 15Nov,2009)

Consider these notes from the computer-gaming press:

In 1983, Atari seeks to halt the distribution of Custer's Revenge, an independently produced game in which the player's objective is to rape Indian woman bound a post.

In 1987, one of the most popular Macintosh programs on the market is MacPlaymate. an adult-oriented game in which the player undresses an animated woman and stimulates her with a wide variety of sex toys.

In the summer of 1990, California Assemblywoman Sally Tanner introduces a bill to prohibit the depiction of alcohol and cigarettes in computer games distributed in the state. The bill is defeated in committee.

In 1991, an underground game creates a small flurry in the American computer press. The game, which is circulated on BBSs in Europe, put players in charge of a Nazi concentration camp and rewards them for the quantity and brutality of their executions.

For game designers, software publishers, and parents who are already uneasy about their children's all-encompassing Nintendo obsessions, news items like these strike an ominous chord. As the novelty of personal computers wears off and electronic games find their way into the mainstream of American culture, thoughtful developers and consumers are starting to face the tough ethical questions. What effect do these games have on kids? Why are they so violent? And, perhaps most centrally, what cultural values do computer games communicate to their users?

The questions aren't new, but they're becoming more pressing as the market grows. The time is fast approaching when game designers and publishers must reckon with the moral questions that have dogged their colleagues in other media for decades.

IS THE MEDIUM THE MESSAGE?

"Computer games are definitely not value-free," asserts Chris Crawford a veteran designer noted for the strong ethical content of his games. "We can't argue that they're mindless entertainment with zero moral value, because it's obvious that there is some form of cultural communication going on whenever someone sits down to play a game. And I think it's very appropriate for people to be concerned about what messages are being communicated."

Roberta Williams, head of development or Sierra On-Line and designer of dozens of games for both children and adults, agrees. "Computer games communicate values the same way any other medium you watch or participate in--movies, books, TV, or magazines And I'm not convinced that we should hold games to any different moral standards than we hold the movie or TV industries to."

According to Crawford, computer games do get extra scrutiny, mainly because they're perceived as children's entertainment. "Freedom of speech is paramount when you're creating entertainment for adults, who are better able to accept or reject the values presented to them. But we've also established the legal principle that freedom is appropriately restrained when you're addressing children. Right now, computer games are closely associated with children, and I think that the public debate about their moral content comes largely out of that association. Our image as a 'kiddie medium' gives us increased exposure to censorship."


DEATH, WAR, AND GORE

As any parent can tell you, most of the ethical concerns about computer games centers around their notoriously high levels of violence. "It's the one issue that cuts directly to the heart of the industry," says Crawford. Computer game violence comes in a variety of flavors, including the following.

Repetitive death games in which the player's character dies over and over. After each "death." you typically insert another quarter or reload the saved game and start over. (Nervous adults have expressed concern that kids who spend too much time with driving simulations might actually think you can drive that way.)

Military games that simulate (and some say glorify) war. "A goodly portion of Americans find the rather strident militarism of these games objectionable," says Crawford, who has designed several war simulations.
"They often present war as an exciting adventure, a noble quest by brave men and women. In short, they tell the player that war is fun."

In his games, Crawford attempts to redirect this message by working some humanity into the manual or right into the game itself. Take, for example, his upcoming game, Patton Strikes Back.

"After each major battle, there are these interruptions that stop the game to tell you personal stories about Patton and other people in the war--how this battle affected them personally. Some of them are quite graphic. People will still be entertained, but I hope they also walk away with a deeper sense of how horrific a real battle is."

Sid Meier of MicroProse, a company known for its war simulations, takes a different attitude. "You can make a case that war is full of terrible consequences--but I don't think that's news to anyone. There are a lot of movies and books about war, with a lot of different points of view. And I think that's because 'war is terrible' is not the only lesson to be learned; there's also the decision making and leadership and personal growth that occur because people have been through that situation. In our simulations, we want you to come to understand the decision process, the tradeoffs that are involved, the kinds of things people in battle are faced with.

Shoot-'em-up games in which the object is to blow away everything that moves. "It's instructive that all the early computer games were shoot-'em-ups," notes Meier. "In the beginning, it was just technically easier to do those kinds of games. And people didn't know what computer games were all about, so you had to make it clear who the good guys and the bad guys were. It's easy to do that in a battle context." These days, notes Meier, the last bastion of the shoot-'em-up is "your classic Nintendo game, where violence is the focal point of everything that happens."

"This sort of generalized bloodthirstiness, which a lot of games have, makes people very uncomfortable, and I think rightly so," muses Crawford. "This sort of rampant, dehumanized killing generates an aura of tawdriness that does our industry no favors."

Blood and gore. Designers are widely divided about the morality of showing up-close-and-personal scenes of blood and death. "Of the games I've done, I've stayed away from gore; I don't think it adds anything to the game to show blood and arms and legs flying around," says Meier.

Tom Loughry, who designed the close-range combat simulation Gunboat for Accolade, wrestled long and hard before coming to the opposite conclusion "The fact is, when you shoot people, they bleed and die. You're not telling them the truth about war if you sanitize the death scenes."

Why are computer games so violent? According to most of the designers interviewed, they don't need to be. "Violence is a symptom of lazy design," asserts Crawford. "All games must have conflict of some kind, and violence is the most direct and intense form of conflict there is. As the industry matures, we should move away from it, but for that to happen, people have to make the effort to design games that take other approaches."

Several thoughtful designers and publishers are already making the effort "We've all but banned death from our games," boasts Brian Moriarty, a senior game designer at Lucasfilm Games. "The possibility of death is a convenient and easy way to create game conflict which is why you see so much of it. But I don't buy the notion that you need it to create dramatic tens on. There's almost always a more elegant way to move the plot along if the designer is willing to think a little more creatively. Our perception is that people equate death with failure. And failure is not fun."

Among Moriarty's more recent games is Loom, "which took this idea even further--not only can't you die, you can't fail. The fun of the game is in making choices for your character. like all good stories, it also has a strong moral.

"After all, computer games do teach people things about the world," he concludes. "If our ideas of conflict are limited to violence, we've got a lot to learn about art, storytelling, and game design."

Moriarty, Crawford, and Williams project that shoot-'em-ups, war games. and other types of violent games will soon be only small niches in a much broader market. In fact, the game she f at your local Egghead might ultimately be as diverse as your local video rental store with a full spectrum of comedy, drama, mystery, adventure, and children's software. And the analogy may extend one step further to include X-rated adult games behind a curtain in the back of the store.

FOR ADULTS ONLY

Games with strong sexual content have been around almost as long as personal computers. Along with the infamous Custer's Revenge, the more notable efforts include Interlude, a 1982 text adventure that contained several X-rated scenarios; Leather Goddesses of Phobos, a 1986 game that was actually a lot tamer than its hype led one to think; and Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry series, a tacky spoof on the hot-tubs-and-gold-chains singles lifestyle.

Perhaps the most famous of all, however, are MacPlaymate (1986) and its second incarnation, Virtual Valerie (989). "They're probably the most pirated games in the history of Macintosh," sighs creator Mike Saenz, who cobbled MacPlaymate together in just three days. "I don't even think the games were very erotic. I did them for laugh because I think the idea of interactive sexual computer entertainment is patently absurd. MacPlaymate was a spoof of all the fetishistic trappings of the average male's preferred sexual imagery."

Saenz says there's no question that his two products objectify women as sexual playthings. "It's like having your own 'Stepford date-on-a-disk'; you don't even have to send her roses," he muses. "But I was hoping that the absurdity of it would sink in, that by putting it into such bold, simplified relief, men would realize how unreal it is to expect women to behave that way sexually. I was hoping to make some of this outrageousness clear. But I overestimated my audience; it ended up in the hands of a bunch of nerdy guys who'd never talked to a woman besides their mother.

Although it seems that there are always one or two popular adult-oriented games on the market at any given time, most mainstream publishers regard X-rated games as a very small niche. "Every company has its moral or ethical limits," says Williams. "There might be some company that decides it wants to make money doing Playboy-type games. But that's not what Sierra is about. We decided at the time we did Larry that that was our absolute limit, as far as the R-rated stuff is concerned."

Williams adds that some of her designers approached her about doing a more explicit game, but she refused. "It's not just that I don't like the way women are portrayed in these games. It's also that we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot if we sold them. We might sell quite a few to the men who buy that kind of thing, but over the long run, we'd lose the respect of our market. Even those same men would hesitate to buy our kids' games for their families--and women wouldn't go near us. It would be a long-term loss for us. If some other company decided that that's who they were, fine, but we're in the business to make software for everybody."

Saenz admits to feeling a similar backlash. He recently published a mainstream fantasy game called Spaceship Warlock--"an old-fashioned space opera that's nostalgic in a Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers sort of way, complete with sophomorically bombastic dialogue. Unfortunately, if you really try to capture that 'golden age of science fiction' feel, it will inevitably be somewhat chauvinistic, although it looks very liberated compared to, say, the first Star Trek series. Still, because of MacPlaymate and Valerie, people are looking for me to have this attitude. It turns out that there are a whole bunch of people who love what I do--a lot of closet Mike Saenz fans out there--and a lot of other people who think, 'That guy's sick." I've been typecast as a terrible misogynist."

OF DEMONS, DRUGS, AND CENSORSHIP

Sex and violence may be the big ethical issues, but they're not the only ones. Over the years, the television, film, recording, and publishing industries have felt pressure to watch their language (as in the recording industry's well-publicized debate over parental warning stickers), Just Say No (as part of the federal government's much-ballyhooed War on Drugs), and beware of demons (at the behest of the fundamentalist Christian movement). Through it all, though, computer game developers have managed to stay well out of the range of fire.

You would think that Mike Saenz, for example, would be an obvious target. "But none of the pressure groups seem to have found me yet," he marvels. "I haven't heard from Tipper Gore or Women Against Pornography. I think the hardliners and fascists must be very small groups that exert a lot of focused pressure--and right now they're going after the record companies."

"Sure, we've all gotten letters from parents who scream that hack-and-slash fantasy games are inspired by the devil," concurs Crawford, "but the numbers are so small that we tend to think of it as a marginal concern."

As computer games go mainstream, though, they're starting to attract at least some attention. And, surprisingly, one of the early battlegrounds wasn't violence or sex, but drug abuse. "Drugs and tobacco just aren't usually a part of the context of most games," says Moriarty. Crawford echoed this, adding that "sometimes players will come across a vial that says, 'Drink me' like in Alice in Wonderland, and you float over the river or something as a result of taking it. But nobody's ever suggested that this promotes drug abuse."
Because designers and publishers regard drugs as such a nonissue, the introduction of California Assembly Bill 3280 in June 1990 took them completely by surprise.

The bill, introduced by Assembly woman Sally Tanner (D-El Monte), would have prohibited designers from placing any alcohol or tobacco company logos in games or showing characters holding or using alcohol or tobacco products. Even though it was drafted with the loftiest of intentions, the computer game industry was quick to perceive a threat and moved quickly to block the bill. "We ship a children's product called Mixed-Up mother Goose, which has been wideley used in classrooms for years," says Williams. "In the game, King Cole loses his pipe, and the child helps him find it. It didn't make sense. Under this bill, reading a book of nursery rhymes would be perfectly legal, but I could go to a jail for animating the same nursery rhyme. I don't like my kids seeing people smoke or drink, either, but to be restricted where other media aren't isn't fair."

A KINDER, GENTLER FUTURE?

All the designers and publishers interviewed for this article were optimistic that the ethical nature of computer games will continue to improve as the audience broadens in numbers and sophistication.
"Right now, we're locked into a traditional, hobbyist market that has a specific set of expectations about the kinds of games they want," Moriarty observers. "A lot of us want to move beyond those expectations but feel held back. Still, I'm convinced that there are a lot more computer owners out there who are interested in using their machines for entertainment but aren't attracted to the traditional offerings."

He's pleased that Loom has been very popular with first-time gamers and women--two groups outside the core market--but complains that publishers are often reluctant to support games that fall outside of standard genres, even if they might open up the world of computer gaming to a broader market.

As game developers look toward the big time, they're taking their cues from the film and recording industries. Many publishers have long adhered to their own internal standards. At Sierra, for example, games are categorized as either adult games, like Leisure Suit Larry and Space Quest; family games, like King's Quest, that children and parents will likely play together; or children's games, in which blood, death, and violence are entirely banned. "Our goal is to make software for everyone," says Williams.

There's also wide spread talk to an industrywide rating system based on the system the MPAA uses to rate movies. "We're kind of in this window where we don't have a rating system yet because we're still a new industry and not all the pieces are together." Saenz says "But I think a ratings system would be useful because you'd know where boundaries exist and it would help both the developers and the audience clear up a lot of the confusion in the marketplace. I don't want to limit freedom of expression, and a rating system might be one way to protect it."

Crawford points out that, as with books and movies, the truly outrageous games appeal only to very small and specialized niche markets. (The numbers bear this out. MacPlaymate, despite its tremendous popularity, was only available through mail order. The concentration-camp game is only distributed via BBS, and no American game designer interviewed had actually seen it.) "Mass marketing will be the key to improving the ethical climate in computer games." Crawford predicts. "You can only push people so fast, but the messages we communicate will certainly improve as we slowly learn how to design games for a larger audience."

Comment:(1) BESIDES the PROBLEM of violence AND sex in GAME, drug abuse ACTUALLY IS THE BIG PROBLEM since Drugs and tobacco always is the context of games!!!!!!!!!! WHAT MORE ... that not many people aware of and consider it as a problem !!!!! it already encourages people to smoke and drug abbuse.
(2) the game can express the culture message of different coutries... and the culture can be exchange via playing.

Just playing? -the ethics...Article 2

"SMART WAYS TO STAY WELL, EAT RIGHT, GET FIT". Goodhealth: Health NewsGood Housekeeping. New York: Dec 2009. Vol. 249, Iss. 6; pg. 59 (accessed 13Nov2009)

Think Young, Stay Healthy

Holding negative stereotypes about seniors may be harmful to your health. In a long-term Yale study, younger adults whose views on aging were the most negative were almost twice as likely to later have a heart attack or other cardio problem as those with more positive attitudes on the topic (25 percent versus 13 percent, 30 years after the study's start). People who feel pessimistic about getting older take poorer care of their health, so forming unkind caricatures becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, explains study leader Becca Levy, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology. "To break the cycle, think about independent older people you know or see on TV," she says, "and ask yourself if your views would apply to them."

Retail Therapy Explained

If you grab a candy bar when you have PMS, you're likely to recognize the hormonal connection. But what if it's your credit card you're reaching for? Turns out that spending may also be influenced by hormones. When psychologists surveyed 443 British women about their spending habits over the previous week, they threw in a seemingly unrelated question -- "When was your last menstrual period?" What they found: Women were much less in control of their purchases in the 10 days before their periods than at other times of the month. Almost two-thirds bought something on impulse, with more than half going over their usual spending limit (some by hundreds of dollars). When it's that time of the month, researchers say, women may shop to relieve feelings of stress, irritability, or depression. To better deal with negative emotions, try hitting the gym or taking a walk outside, suggests study leader Karen Pine, Ph.D., of the University of Hertfordshire: "It's much cheaper and will leave you feeling more uplifted than a trip to the mall." For the holiday season, when you can't avoid shopping, you may need reinforcements during the premenstrual part of your cycle, especially if you are on a tighter budget (and who isn't?). Stick to a list, Pine advises, or deputize a friend to help you nix an impulsive purchase. Despite your good intentions, there is still a strong urge to give in to emotional spending.

HER NOSE KNOWS (BUT HIS PROBABLY DOESN'T) Men may hope their cologne will mask underarm odor, but women aren't fooled, research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia found. While six of 32 scents tested disguised the smell of male BO from other men, none of the fragrances worked for women. To the showers, guys! (And don't forget the deodorant.)

Another Reason We Love the Wii

The Nintendo Wii is cropping up on prescription pads as well as Christmas lists this season, after researchers reported "amazing" improvements in people with Parkinson's disease who used the popular video games. In a small study, 20 Parkinson's patients without serious walking impairments rotated among Wii tennis, bowling, and boxing for one hour, three times a week. After a month, participants had significantly better motor skills, more energy, and practically zero depression. They had to use it or lose it, though: When the group laid off the Wii for a subsequent month, symptoms increased and depression began creeping back. Researcher and occupational therapist Ben Herz, OTD, of the Medical College of Georgia, suspects that chemistry may underlie Wii's value. Exercise and video games both increase levels of dopamine -- a brain chemical essential for normal movement. Since Wii combines the two, it may be especially beneficial for people with Parkinson's, whose levels of dopamine are significantly depleted. Now on the research agenda: Wii for patients with gait problems. So far, it looks good. "One woman walked in with assistance and went out dancing," says Herz.

Split Decision on Pills

One way to save money on drugs is to ask your doctor to write a prescription for double-dose tablets (which often cost the same as your regular Rx). Splitting the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, for example, can save you $330 a year, reports insurer UnitedHealthcare. But only some pills lend themselves to halving -- specifically, tablets that break easily without crumbling (the ones that are scored split best), those that don't have a special enteric coating (which keeps pills from being destroyed in the stomach), and tablets designed to release medication slowly over time. If your doc gives the OK, buy a pill-splitting device -- less than $10 at drugstores -- then practice on vitamins or other inexpensive tablets to perfect your technique before doing it for real. Even pros need practice: When researchers halved 15 tablets each of six commonly divided medications, nearly a quarter of the half-pills were outside the standard allowable variation, a University of Arizona College of Pharmacy study recently reported.

ANOTHER KIND OF MAC ATTACK

If Santa delivers a new computer to your house, take extra care when you set it up. Every year, over 6,000 people end up in the ER because of broken toes from dropped laptops, bashed knees from tripping over cords, or other computer-related injuries. Such accidents have gone up eightfold, a recent survey found; add to that a seasonal hazard, holiday clutter. "You wouldn't believe how many people get hurt because they trip over something while carrying a computer," says researcher Lara B. McKenzie, Ph.D., of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH.

[Photograph]: PHOTOGRAPHS, CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: ISTOCKPHOTO (2); JUPITERIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES.

[Photograph]: PHOTOGRAPH BY DIGITAL VISION PHOTOGRAPHY/VEER

Comment: playing game can encourage people to do exercise... as it actually can be regaerd as an exercise... I rather play video game than do exercise as it has more fun and both of them are effective.. e.g. relax, improve our skill like motor and become health.

Just playing? -the ethics...Article (1)

Activision Publishing, Inc.; Activision Publishing Releases Nickelodeon's iCarly for Wii and Nintendo DS/ Nintendo DSiAnonymous. Leisure & Travel Week. Atlanta: Nov 14, 2009. pg. 19 (accessed 13Nov2009)

(c)Copyright 2009, Leisure & Travel Week via NewsRx.com

2009 NOV 14 - (VerticalNews.com) -- Activision Publishing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Nickelodeon announced the iCarly videogame is now available for WiiTM and Nintendo DSTM/ Nintendo DSiTM in North America. The game lets fans of Nickelodeon's hit television series join the cast of iCarly in a virtual experience. Inspired by the show's theme of using technology to be creative, iCarly has special features for the Nintendo DSiTM that let players interact with their surroundings using the system's camera and microphone.

"iCarly encourages creativity with its great characters and storylines," said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. "The iCarly video game incorporates these elements from the TV show into an energetic gameplay experience that is non-stop entertainment!"

"Part of what has made iCarly the top show with kids and teens is allowing them to participate in their viewing experience through the website," said Steve Youngwood, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. "This game extends that concept even further by tapping into kids' creativity to provide them with endless fun."

In the iCarly video game, players help Carly, Sam, Freddie and the other characters from the hit TV series craft all-new "webisodes" of the show in an original storyline written exclusively for the game. Over 80 frenetic challenges--presented as show segments - capture the creativity of the series, and allow players to collaborate with the show's main characters through new adventures. The innovative iCreate mode provides opportunities for gamers to add their own unique touches to the webisodes by swapping out props, characters, color schemes, audio, intros, outros and more. Up to four players can either compete or cooperate together on Wii to complete the skits and earn Web-Cred, which can then be used to purchase new items, props, accessories and locations from in-game virtual websites.

Nickelodeon's iCarly - a web show within a show - ranks as the number-one program on all of television with kids between the ages of 2 to 11, year to date.

For more information on the iCarly videogame, visit http://www.activision.com/.
Keywords: Activision Publishing, Inc., Electronics, Entertainment, Leisure, Nintendo, Technology, Television, Video Game
This article was prepared by Leisure & Travel Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Leisure & Travel Week via VerticalNews.com.


Comment: creativity can be improved by playing such game. that's fun!!

Do some research on one of the following game and write a brief description of it on your blog.

Mary Flanagan: [domestic] 2003






a) Features of game
- a 3D game
- relates to personal memories
-creating a particular sense of scale and abstracted sense of space
-mix of photographic images and unstable texts layer the environment
-approaches interactive storytelling conventions
(http://www.maryflanagan.com/domestic/,11nov.2009)

B) Art or not? WHY?
- I think it is an art
-it is because
a) it is a creative idea... there is the first game about people mind
b) it has its content - the memories last a long time of even for good.
c) some of the elements are with aesthetic merit eg. the second photo above, i think that it is good

Digital games - But are they art?

a) How does Adams define art? Do you agree with his definition?

Art divided into a number of types:
1.literary arts :the presence of narrative
eg Film, writing
2.Fine arts: eg.sculpture, painting
3.decorative arts: wallpaper, industrial design

-Art should have content ( should be expressive)
-Art can make us feel something
-Art can lasts
-Art has a form of communciation
-Not formalaic
-Should be original / exception - appropriation (taking other art + representing in a new way to create create new meanings)
-Narrative elements
-Aesthetic value
-Aesthetically interesting

b) According to Adams, what is needed for videogames to be considered as art?

- aesthetic merit eg.rhythm
- the structure of basic elements
- force the player to see thing in a new way
- must experiment with the medium (must take artistic risks & break new ground)
-must be the subject of genuine criticism ( be studied and analyzed as work of art and aspects of culture)

Should game be more like fantasy + less like real-world war?

i agree that there should be less like real-world war...
it is because those games encourage people to act or to solve the problem by violence.
although those game can make people relax ,do what thing that they can not do in the real world..
however, if people play such game for a long time... those violence may be bear in mind and become their behaviour ....

However, i think it is no need for the game to more like fantasy..
as i think there are other ways for us to imagine.
In addition, game is just a means for us to do something that we cannot do but we want to do!
it is a place for fun and it should be look like the real would in order to fake people to relax.
because it is a please for me to feel free but we cannot do so in the reality and thus the game should be more like the real world in order to let let people believe that they are feel free in the reality....

Just playing? -the ethics

(Group Member: Fanny, Joyce, Tracy,Yan)

1. “To what extent are we already experiencing a man -machine symbiosis that has turned us into cyborgs [or posthuman bodies]?” Christiane Paul (Digital Art, p 166)

- very little
- as it is still not safe enough, people are not dear to install such thing in the body..
- but actually, most of them are used in medical aspect..
- for example, glasses, prosthetics....
those of them can substitute people's drawbacks, give people back their basic ability.

2. What are some pros and cons of becoming a cyborg?

PROS
- substitute people's drawbacks
- more convenient, as people's abilities can be changed according to what they want
- make people more confident


CONS
- if the component is damaged, it needs another operation to repair or restore... may be it is very painful...
- it may be harmful to people's health
- in the future, the technologised bodies may be out of control because of hackers
- it actually damages the law of nature... it is not "real"

3. What do you think of Stelarc’s work?

- Stelare's work is very surprising me!!
- it is because it shows the power of technology and I never image such thing can be real as I believe that it is just what thing happens in the Cartoon.
- actually, I'm really afraid that.... if the component is broken or out of control, the man who is entriely tied becomes very dangerous!!!

also, it is disgust..
as the moive shows some internal organs, and the sharp of his work is so disgust..

How many online identities do you have? How are they different from one another?
I have about 6-7 online identities...

-4 for e-mail ,including Yahoo, LU, Hotmail,Gmail)
-1 for Facebook
-1 for Xanga
-1 for THIS BLOG
- SOME for online game like restaurant city, Luna etc...


What are some benefits of expressing one’s identity online?

- online identities can protect oneself.
as we do not need to use our "real" identity in normal life... for example, we do not have to use the real name or information of ourselves.

- feel free to speak out

What are some risks?
- As the delusion that we have completely freedom on the internet or we believe that no one know who we are, people may easy to act crime and even some of them do not alert...

- Also, open a AC on the internet always use some personal information, may be some information will be stolen. OR we open AC too easy, thus we will not aware that we give some personal information for that owner...

how's powerful? it's so real!

Animation - Embody facial capture

http://www.superbad.com/

this website has lots of beautiful Digital Art...
http://www.smashingapps.com/category/inspiration

What are some challenges digital art presents to the art world (ie galleries, exhibition goers, art critics and scholars)?

-Not many people really affirm the achievements of those artists since digital art is easier than the traditional art. As unlike traditional art, it need less skill and practise.

-also, it is too easy to become outdated. it is because the technology run faster and faster, the newer one always replacees the older one... and then not easy to follow. however, painting never has this happen.

-As the digital art is too easy to produce,, some of them may be none of meaning... people just produce it out of their feeling or what them want....... As a result, it is difficult to understand...

-some of those art cannot be stary long or forever because some of them which are put in the exhibition are just being projected on the wall.. OR if the works will lose, if it is not saved correctly.

-digital art is just a technology. if there is no computer or camera, there is no digital art. Thus, it cannot really show the talent of the artist.

-it is easy for some idea to be stolen, as it is easy to copy and paste. also, hackers is also a problem.

-there is no clear line between art, science and technology because of digital art..

“Mission to Earth”

Summary
MISSION TO EARTH*

I think that this film is very boring! And I wonder that who can understand this film? ~.~\

this film make me confused as there are three boxes on the screen in the same time!! I have to choose one to watch ... Also, when I focus on one particular box e.g the big one, I then miss the other two small boxes... thus, it is difficult for me to follow and understand..
May be it can make us think, as we have to choose one of three in difference to come up with a complete movie..

Although it is confusing, it seems that it is a new and creative manner to make a film about that.

secondly, the music of this film makes us feel asleep since there is no any change!!

the imagine and music of this film express the boring life of the girl!! Maybe it is the theme of this film!! thus,, some elements may match together and also the theme.

To compare with traditional film, digital cinema is more different to follow and it is more space for people to think about!!

REVIEW -YOUTUBE

Quote 2“…Through their many activities – uploading, viewing, discussing, and collaborating—the YouTube community forms a network of creative practice. In his book on the social worlds of art, music and design, Howard Becker (1982) described this kind of formation as an ‘art world’—’the network of people whose cooperative activity, organised via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things, produces the kind of art works that art world is noted for’ (Becker, 1982: x). He argues that the construction and negotiation of aesthetic values and ‘proper’ techniques is not confined to academics or experts, but involves everyone who contributes to the process of cultural production, including audiences. Similarly, on YouTube, aesthetic values, cultural forms, and creative techniques are normalised via the collective activities and judgements of the entire social network—forming an informal and emergent (and by far from homogeneous) ‘art world’ that is specific to YouTube”.

I agree that Youtube is a kind of art. If film is a art, why the movies of youtube cannot be a art?
there is a large numbers of video in Youtube with different theme. (some show how well that people play musical instrustment, some show the social problem and also some talk about a story with a creative manner.,.. YOU NAME IT!) all of these video can show the attitude of the producers as well as the creativities of those men as there are different kinds of maner in which to express the message of their video..!!
In addition, something can stir one's emotion or can meet its own value can be a art.. Thus, Youtube can be a art....

it also is a cooperative activity. the activities within Youtube show interaction between the publishers and the audiences since Youtube is somewhere for people to discuss the issue that is bring by the moive or someone may upload another related movie to response that video.
finally, it shows the judgement of the entire social network and show the social phenomena so it can be consider as a cultural parts... @

Youtube

(c) this video shows the argument between a man (BUS UNCLE) and a youger.as BUS UNCLE talked very loudly with his moblephone...The man seems so brutal and speaks bad language to the youger.]

it shows the social problem of HK. Hong konger always under a lot of pressure... their emotion cannot be express in a appropriate way... thus, 'a little problem' stirs BUS UNCLE's 'big anger ' !!!! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

ANother BUS UNCLE -V-"" ( ONE YEAR LATER)

@ARGUMENT Between a MaN & WOMaN as someone cuts in a line.!!!@IT ALSO show the life of Hong Kong people very busy !!~

TRAIN COUPLE@
A couple condemn a man. but it is their wrong that they kick other carelessly!!!!

Review
The two largest computer software companies, Microsoft & Apple, make the operating and programs that are pre-installed on most computers.

Is there any problem with simply using the products that these two companies create for us?

- Since they contain some restrictions, we cannot modify or delete. This action ( pre-installed) may slow down our computers.
( as some programs that not all of us really use).... It is not user friendly at all.
eg. Micsoft's vista -"bloatware".

-

Why do some people choose to use open-source software such as Linux?

- it is because there are different kinds of software for us to choose
- it is free for us..
- Some softwares can be edit... it can meet our own need...

Who own the right to modify your digital tools? Does it matter at all? Why or Why not?

the owner of these softwares.

it causes some problems for us.
For examle, it wastes our memory. We don't really need some programs at all ..but we cannot delete it.
However, some people, including me, don't know computer very much. thus, it may not a problam at all. As pre-installed can provide us a basic software. it is easy for the new users to do the simple work with computer.

In additon, there are open-source software. we just download what thing we want to suit our need. it is not necesscary for us to modify it. if we don't like it, we can just delete and download another one. so it is not a problam.

Bill Gates - Wikipedia

"Bill Gate." Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gate
(accessed 23Sept,2009)

-William Henry "Bill" Gates III
-born October 28, 1955
-born in Seattle, Washington

-CEO and Chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation

The Famous Work
-Windows ( “proprietary operating system” )
-the first retail version of Windows in November 20, 1985

Wikipedi

OPen Source

What philosophy is behind the open source movement? Do you agree? Why or why not?

- everyone has his/ her freedom to use without permission
- we can share with other people to meet other's / our need

Why do you think so many digital artists choose open source software and/or operating systems?

BEFORE

AFTER

what is the difference between digital photography and analog / traditional photography?

digital:
- can be reivewed before
- see the photo at once as well as edit (effect) and delete ir!
-images of DC cannot be projected on the filters
-the quality is worse than traditional one
-memory card can be reused for a lot of time

traditional:
-cannot be reviewed before
- can't see at once
- with a better quality
- the filters cannot be reused

photos

About Wikipedia

1. What is a brief history of the encyclopedia?

Wikipedia
-founded on March 9, 2000,
-under the ownership of Bomis, Inc, a web portal company.
-main figures were Jimmy Wales, Bomis CEO, and Larry Sanger, editor-in-chief

^"Wikipedia."Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia (accessed 9Sept,2009)

Encyclopedia Brittannica
- conceived by two printers, Andrew Bell and Colin Macfarquhar and
edited chiefly by William Smellie.
- began in December 1768,in Edinburgh
- was completed in 1771 in three volumes ( 2,391 pages),
-Since now, there are 15th editions

"Encyclopædia Britannica."Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica (accessed 9Sept,2009)

2. What are some key features of that encyclopedia

a) according to Wikipedia
- employs the open editing model called "wiki"
- Discussion" pages > each article work among multiple editors
-"History" page attached to each article records every single past revision of the article
-"trust ratings" for individual Wikipedia contributors to determine their right to change the information
- Regular contributors often maintain a "watchlist" of their articles so they can easily keep tabs on all recent changes to those articles.
-using the computer programs called Internet bots to remove vandalism as soon as it was made and to correct common misspellings and stylistic issues.

"Wikipedia."Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia
(accessed 9Sept,2009)

b) according to Encyclopedia Brittannica
- traditional editing model
- highly organized staff of scholars credited for the work must inevitably have ensured the scrutiny of all material
- restrictions: a limited space

"Encyclopædia Britannica."Encyclopædia Britannica,http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186618/Encyclopaedia-Britannica
(accessed 9Sept,2009)

3. Which encyclopedia was most useful for this research?

Wikipedia

-it is more convenient that we can hear the knowledge and news at once by someone who edits
( I think it is the important point. we should make good use of the benefit of internet that is uploading information everytime and every where. )
- Encyclopedia Brittannica>> is less useful because we need to wait for the expert from it to write an article. They cannot publish the article as fast as Wikipedia does.

-it contains must more information

-it encourages us to think about some of information from there as we all know that Wiki is open for everyone to edit and we believe that there must have some mistakes.
(if we know that Encyclopedia Brittannica, will we still think the information carefully ?)

4. Can you trust this encyclopedia 100%? Why or why not?

I don't think so.
some informations may be wrong as the information there can be edited by everyone.
In addition, even the information is written by expert, there may also have some mistakes.
thus, we can't trust it 100%...
And critical thinking is a must when we find information from the internet.

a) According to the short video, how have these technologies improved the way that knowledge is stored, created and shared?

Pros:
save time to store and find the information
we can share the knowledge goblely easily eveywhere and time
more interaction within the writier and reader
more people involve to create knowlege
can exchange the world at once
knowledge is shared by a funny way eg.video and picture ,unlike the traditional encyclopedies

Cons:
everybody can edit the knowledge without professional knowledge
May be unreliable, misunderstanding
people may just copy the knowledge and don't thinking
less creativity of someone
knowledge may be stolen

Wt are some pros and cons of the internet and new computer technologies?

In my opition, the pros of internet are many.

1. The internet make our life more convenient. For example, we can through the internet to meet people all our the world. We can share the photo within friends by using some internet tool like facebook to get their news.

2. The internet encourages people to express their opition and create their own artwork. Nowadays, people show their photos or feeling on their own blog or forum is very commen.

3. it is easy for us to do a research

4. it brings more topics for people to discuss or more chance for people to have interaction.

5. it's convenient for us to hear the news all over the world.

6. We can translate different languages by some softwares.

7. New technology let our life more wonderful. mobile phone with difficult functions is a good example. it makes us more easy to take photos to have a memory from every time and eveywhere. some mobile also has sound recorder and that can convenient me, as a student to record what professor said in class.


New technologies also have their own cons.

1. We may depend too much on them and become lazy or habituate on it. As a result, we talk lesser and lesser with others as well as having a lower make in exam.

2. Our personal information may be discovered by some Trojan horse.

3. The popularization of internet destories the creative industry as people share and download music, movie without right easier by using some point-to-point software.

4. More and more accidents has been brought by these new technogies. eg. the new product of Apple - Iphone 3GS was reported by the news that the tounch screen was broken suddenly and made someone hurt.

Hi, my name is Yan Cheung.
My major is Visual Studies and I am a year 2 student.
I like watching film, listening music and making animation as well.
(P.S: I'm still new in making animation ... still learning ...but I LIKE IT! XD)

This is my first blog that it's for my academic use.
I feel that it is a special experience for me! Ha! =]