Blog 4: Fascinating
By the time you read and respond to this blog, Mala, Kate, Cesar, and maybe one other classmate will have presented their research. However, that leaves 15 presentations to go. Use this blog as a preliminary opportunity to write publicly about your interest in the topic you plan to research. Where do you think you will search for the article? How do you expect to approach the subject? What aspects of it do you find most intriguing? Explain to your classmates exactly what you find attractive about the subject, what you expect to find in your research, and why you think your topic is a significant one. That is, try to convince your classmates that they should care. I only expect you to have a preliminary idea about your possible topic at this time and understand that it may change. However, this will help you begin to narrow your research topic and spark some interest in your topic.
(If you reply to someone else’s response, try to be specific about which parts of his/her explanation you found compelling, and which you found lacking, and if you have any suggestions)
As you are researching for your topic, if you come across an article addressing a topic your classmate found interesting, post it to the blog, the wiki, or the class listserv (f05-1983@clas.ufl.edu). Even if they don't use it, it may be a good resource for them.
If you have already presented, shed some light on your process for finding the article that you presented on and why you choose that article.
posted by cmartin at 12:10 AM
33 Comments:
I have a great interest in the newer technology and a desire to research the possible medical problems that society may have due to overusage of some of the newer, more popular items.
I have chosen musical hallucinations, reportedly being developed by the over use of the IPod. I know that alot of new technology is addicting, and you do see alot of people plugged in to this device and jamming away. While researching this "new addiction," I ran across the title of Neuron Network Goes Awry. This catchy title definitely caught my attention in that it could possibly ruin our brain. Without a well functioning brain, one could not think, analyze or correctly process anything.I don't know about you? This topic definitely is a little frightening and is certainly intriguing as to its validity!
As I have already presented, I will share the secret of how i found my long, yet loved by the teacher, article. If you look at the sources on the articles given to us by cathlena martin, there are a lot of interesting articles written by intelligent men and women.I simply found mine on this list. It interested me because for one, it was from Playboy so I figured it couldn't be that bad, and two, McLuhan seemed to have some very controversial views. I was very interested by his viewpoints and I think in order to present an article well, all you have to do is pick something that interests you. A happy presenter is a good presenter!
--In response to Ashley---
wow, thats very interesting, i had no idea there were any medical problems associated with overuse of the IPOD. After hearing a presentation like yours i might be a little less excited about listening to mine and do some more research about other devices which might have harmful affects. Do cell phones really cause cancer? I hope not bc mine is literally glued to my head all the time!
Yes, Kate is right, we were thinking on the same wave length....literally.
I have also been rather concerned about all the information on cell phones, but me personally do not spend so much time that I feel should be a big concern. However, the IPod is a different animal, or rather said different new technology. Most of us are using our IPods alot and that could have future implications. Hopefully we can find out what problems we might encounter.
A topic that i am currently attempting to gather information for is about sexism and a form of media, concentrating with video games in specific. Though my main topic to discuss is still up in the air, i might head my discussion arguing if traditional forms of sexism are still evident in modern games, in comparison to games in the past. If anyone believes that the topic is too "cliché", or if you have another topic that could be more interesting, feel free to let me know in your responses. So as a heads up, you can maybe start trying to focus on issues of sexism in video games next time you play them.
----In Response to Jordan----
The topic that you have chosen sounds really interesting. What age group were the children in the study? That could be a really important aspect of the study since boys and girls have thought processes that really different when they are young. It seems that it could spur up a "battle of the sexes" during the discussion.
by the way Jordan, I believe that I am addicted to my iPod, but then again, who isn't addicted to their iPod?
As I forementioned in class today, I think I want to discuss a topic that is really serious, and that is the increasing obesity of United States citizens. As far as class goes, I want to talk about the correlation between this weight problem and the increasing means of media that are causing laziness through out America, and in turn, fatter people.
I'll probably look for this artice on a cnn type website or I might check the UF library database to see if they have anything. This topic is quite popular, it extends from beyond my questions to such points as dieting and what roles media have taken in getting Americans to diet. I think if I do it right, I will have a lot of neat information and some startling facts about this problem.
I wouldn't say this topic is attractive, however it is important to just about everyone, as most people are concerned about there physical well being. I think people really will be shocked to know that this increased media is leading to increased obesity.
in response to Ashley-
I've actually heard nothing about this topic your discussing. I always here people joking that they are addicted to their I Pod, but I just think it's mainly because they have some sort of antisocial disorder or their just a little strange. I love music, my whole apartment is covered with albums and posters of my favorite artists, I even have a portable Mp3 player. I guess i just don't feel the need to have it in my ears every second of the day. Isn't one of the exciting things about life the fact that every day is going to be different and there is something new to see and hear? Anyway, I'm real interested to see what you come up with on the subject of medical complications or even addiction if thats possible...?
in response to John....
I know I dont need to comment again, but I just saw what you're discussing, and that's awesome... Consider looking at the movie JFK as an example of a source of media that is attempting to uncover a conspiracy. Good luck.
For better or worse, I’ve been interested in politics for as long as I can remember. Over the years media has become more than just a helpful addition to campaigns/legislation, but a necessity. So, I figured the easiest way to go about this would be to Google media and politics. Though it was tempting, I didn’t just pick the first article that popped up, I read through a few of them and decided on the one I ended up doing. Though I now wish I had thought of looking up the potential of voting on the Internet, I picked the one that I did because it was short and to the point, but still contained a number of ideas that related to our class.
In response to jon r.:
Your topic sounds very interesting. The cliché “history is written by the victors” comes to mind because in many ways history is like the game telephone, by the time it gets to the last person it can be very different from the truth. Adding the immediacy of the media into that sounds like a great topic!
--in response to Tennison--
I think it is a very good idea to discuss the topic of sexism in media. It is not cliche at all. Personally, I hadn't even thought of it as a possibilty, which is great because your article will be very informative. Sexism seems to be ubiquitous in media, from advertisements to the characters in video games and movies, therefore being a interesting topic of discussion. You are also thinking of comparing the sexism found in modern media to that found in older forms of media, that will be very affective because not only is sexism in media being explored but so is its passage over time. So, I say two thumbs up to that.
Health has always been a major concern for me. Topics on physical health, especially have always really interested me. With this in mind, I considered an article that dealt with media and some sort of health problem.
The most obvious and most threatening health problem in the U.S. at the moment is obesity. Since our class is based on children's culture and media, an article on media ad its relation to childhood obesity seemed to be the perfect fit. Also knowing some background information on obesity in the U.S. from a past research paper helped me make my final decision on which article to choose.
What most attracts me to this subject is the fact that it's affecting much more than how the children of today are looking, but it is also disturbing many aspects of our future as a country. Obesity is a disease affecting about one third of our adult American population, I think that's enough to get us all concerned.
Jon,
If you are looking at JFK and the media conspiracy, you may want to briefly look into JFK Reloaded, which was a shooter video game whose objective was for you to recreate the assisination of JFK.
It received a lot of press, as you can imagine. A quick google search will bring up enought to give you a good handle on it.
Although I haven’t found an exact article or even a particular set subject, I would like to focus on the influence of media on the development of children. More specifically I plan on looking at the relationship between media for children and the resulting social issues caused. I am particularly interested in the influence on the child’s social constructs such as body shape, weight, femininity/masculinity, and sexuality. I feel that this idea is very important and should be looked further into. These influences can lead to behavioral problems, eating disorders, inappropriate sexual behaviors, and aggression. With these actions appearing at younger and younger ages, these influences of the media on children should be studied.
--In response to Ashley--
Your idea is very interesting. It also brings a certain person in class to mind who overuses his ipod. Has anybody else noticed these effects in him besides me? I am joking!! Sorry, I just had to say that!
This is a serious subject that should be looked further into and could have an enourmous impact on society if it is true. However, I feel that this topic may be so cutting edge and recent that few researchers have conducted and followed through on their research. I have never heard of this topic before but it sounds very interesting. Your topic has certainly sparked my interest in the subject! I look forward to your presentation to the class!
Very interesting topics that people want to address. I'm still not sure on the exact approach I want to take with my discussion (I have yet to really look for an article), but I would like to relate it to broadcast journalism,and the cognitive aspects television has on society. In my TV and American Society course, I've learned that there are numerous theories out there to how television can effect viewers socially and mentally, and I think the class could have a field day discussing these. Hopefully there is an article out there that incorporates them.
The recent trend to post discussion questions beforehand is great! It really gets me thinking about what to pay attention to while reading, and also helps me develop my opinions furthur when thinking.
---Response to Jordan---
It sounds like an interesting topic you are investigating! I think that it may be right, at least the part about girls turning to text and software on the internet. That was a point I wanted to take up the other day in class. Has anyone ever heard of FanFiction? It's EVERYWHERE on the internet, fans (often the obsessive types) that write stories involving their favorite characters from Film, TV, and Books. I think that this is a plus to the argument that says nothing is lost education-wise, because while one may not be writing on pen and paper, they're still getting practice writing, and getting imaginations flowing. It's also another way to promote reading!
i used an excerpt from a book that i really enjoyed reading as my discussion topic. before finalizing my decision, i browsed through the databases and online journals at uflib.ufl.edu. mitchell's abstract ideas and interesting comparison of technology to "life of the past" amazed me. my goal was to shed some light on his thoughts and to see what others felt about his ideas.
it's interesting and exciting to see all of the ideas and topics we'll be visiting later on in the semester. variety is great, and it seems as though we'll have a lot of it with the upcoming discussions.
-in response to tennison-
immediately upon reading your post i thought of lara croft, the main character in the tomb raider series. her "humble days" are long over (if they ever existed) since her debut in the 90s. she has always been a sex symbol, but her character has been stretched to the limits. a model posing as lara for promotional events and press conferences was fired after posing nude in playboy magazine. there have been hack codes allowing lara to run around nude on the PC version of the game. yet she still lives: in movies, video games, and even books and television. in the battle over social equality and the mighty dollar, the dollar wins (as is normally the case).
When i started looking for my article I went to the UF library site, and tried doing a search for journals and the like with them. But when I tried to use their search engines it asked for a name and password and I didn't know what to do. I was doign it from my house, and didn't have anyone to ask, so I tried my luck on a google search, and they apparently have a particular search for just scholarly articles/journals. Of course you will have to double check on whatever you find with Google, but personally I did find one. I am really interested in blogs, and when i was researching i saw a lot of websites about how blogs are being used in businesses, and I foudn that pretty surprising. I was hoping to find something about personal Teen Blogs, and if anything interesting has come about from that, but I found an article about using the internet in higher learning, and since a lot of our class is like that, I went with that particular article. I thought this article was interesting because it shows how a particular class is doing the same thing as us, but more intense, and also repsonses from students. I also was interested that they used AIM in their course, and thoguht it would be interesting to share with the class.
--in response to Julia--
I think you are taking a very interesting approach to the assignment. For some reason I tie your topic to the topic of obesity in America, like are more kids just playing the sports on video games rather than in real life? Probably not, but I just can't help but wonder.
--in response to Julia--
Thanks Julia.
--in response to Julia--
Thanks, Julia.=)
I came across the idea for my discussion after reading a brief article in BusinessWeek about the introduction of cellphones targeted mainly toward children. The issue sparked my attention because I, like many of my classmates, disagreed with the idea of selling cell phones to kids as young as 5. My "Related Articles" all came from online periodicals I located through the UF Library website, and I stumbled upon the main article after searching the internet for technology-related topics.
I found it hard to approach the subject in a neutral manner, which was one of my goals in leading the discussion, because I had already formed my own opinions. I enjoyed hearing everyone's differing perspectives -- many important and relevant points were brought up through the discussion.
As we progress through this class, I find it very interesting examining the broad area of children's media from different angles, with everyone contributing their own viewpoint.
I am an Advertising major and I am thinking about doing my presentation on advertising in video games. I don’t mean commercials about video games. I mean the actual advertising of products within the game itself. I recall talking about this subject in one of my classes. For example, some racing games will have billboards on the sides of the road advertising a product. It’s probably not noticeable the first time you play it, but the more you play it the more you start to notice these kinds of details. While researching I came across an article which talked about the first advertising agency that worked specifically with video games. The name of the agency is Massive, Inc. Massive is working on placing actual commercials throughout the game. This is different from billboards or product placement in video games. I am interested in finding out what the class thinks about actually watching commercials while playing a video game.
--in response to vanessa--
in order to access the library documents from home, you have to either use a VPN dialer (the instructions are on the library website) or you can enter in your gatorlink name and password or your UF ID barcode...you have to choose "remote logon" in the top right corner of the library website. just a little hint that could make research a lot easier in the future -- i don't know what i'd do without the remote access feature -- i HATE going to the library!
Of course I wait until Sunday night to look at this newest Blog post. Unfortunately, in that time, I already found my article, read it, and have chosen what points to speak on, though I can give information regarding how I chose my article and what ideas I looked forward to reading.
Being an avid gamer and frequent reader of website and videogame magazines, I already know a plethora of sources for where to find a good article. In my many years as a 'gamer,' I have read many articles concerning videogames, their makers, those who play them, and the extreme overload of "this game caused this kid to do __insert bad thing here__." Entering this discussion, I did not want to go near violence in videogames or some obscure number-related mumbo-jumbo about videogame economics. Instead, I went looking for something to counteract many of the misconceptions people outside (and even some inside) the gaming world have about 'gamers'. Fortunately I found my answer at Gamestudies.com in an article analyzing games as a part of children's culture, something I felt was quite fitting for the subject of our class. Before reading it, I hoped to disprove ignorant ideas such as 'videogames rot the brain' or 'videogames lead to social isolation.' Honestly, these are often thoughts of parents or professors who have no experience within the field whatsoever.
Fortunately, the article reached my own expectations. It speaks on the average amount of time children spend playing games, what games they are interested in, as well as how playing games is integrated in their schedules. I was glad to find physical evidence explaining that videogames do not keep kids from playing sports or interacting with friends (a common statement by game opponents). This raised my spirits, though I was sort of sad to read that most games are played as a 'second medium', a second-rate choice behind other activities. Another point the article touched on was the lack of interaction between parents and children concerning videogames. I feel this is a great place for bonding and should be explored by future generations.
All-in-all, I was quite pleased with my article and look forward to presenting it along with a number of questions this Wednesday.
---In response to Priti---
That's a great discussion point and something that's really becoming an issue in the gaming world. Being an avid gamer, it's becoming sickening to see the many advertisements and product announcements now littering games. Often, like you said, these advertisements can be found in racing games. The same applies to other sports games, such as "Brought to you by ___" highlights and so on. The reason for this new uprising in videogame advertising is, with the rising of videogame production costs, companies are scrambling for ways to make a profit. As these advertisements spread into less realistic genres, such as Coca-cola specific items or other strange game inserts, I only see this as a problem, tainting a world that is suppose to be separate from our own. I don't want my videogames becoming music videos. Gross.
I might be doing my presentation on the effect tv has on a child at an early age. I'm especially interested in finding out if this hinders a child's intellectual capacity or if it enhances their imagination. For the most part, I think parents believe that too much tv is a bad thing and they even have those commercials on tv about "getting active" or "verb: it's what you do" encouraging kids to get up off the couch and do something. I know there are many theories about this so I'm sure it won't be too hard to find an article, it's just finding out where to look that's difficult.
re: jen swingle
my research would be bit different from yours in that you're just exploring violence on tv but I'm looking closely at everything kids watch, especially cartoons. Actually, I might narrow it down to just that.
To comment on what Natalie said ("The recent trend to post discussion questions beforehand is great!") -- this should not be a trend, but is actually a requirement of the research presentation/discussion. The assignment states, "You will post the bibliographic information [or link] of your research article on the class wiki as well as talking points that you would like your class members to think about while they read the article." Sending them out to the class listserv is also a great idea too.
--in response to bianca--
Obesity is a very serious problem in this country. And the disease is affecting people younger and younger. There is no doubt that media has an effect on obesity. I think it would be great if media could use it's power to help make a difference in fighting this desease in the future.
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