New Comm. Tech man… I thought this would be easy and boring cause it’s a first year course but it turned out to the most interesting and fun course I did this semester. We get to watch movies during class.. What do you expect ? And with a tutor like u Adam, how can one complain :P. I attended majority of the tutorials but never stayed to the end of it even once. I think two hours was way too much because everyone who came to class seemed to leave within the hour saying he/she has finished. Overall there were so so many interesting topics that I never even thought would interest me in this course. The one lecture that blew my brains off was the one in week 8 that was presented by Jason Nelson.
It was also good to notice that proper explanations were given for each weeks reading and lecture notes. Although there was a problem for the people who didn’t attend Jason’s lecture have no formal notes or information to study from. Some sort of detailed information regarding the lecture should have been put up at Learning at GU. And also the fact that we have to grasp so much information from movies and have no idea what questions can come from it… it scared me a little. But I was really happy that we got to work with Photoshop and had to modify with it. It was these kinds of tasks that made this course so much fun. This course helped me a lot in understanding the practical aspect of the way things work in the technological world.
However the most fascinating part of it for me was this whole putting up your work on your blog thingy. I had never done this before and never even thought that I would have a course that would expect me to do this sort of thing. But I love it :). It has been so convenient and I would love to have a blog for each course and honestly I think other lecturers and conveners should use this method even if its not a ‘technology’ related course.
So overall New Comm. Tech was an awesome course and Adam… it was an absolute pleasure being a part of your class .. Thanks for everything :)
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Week 11 Excel
Dammit its scaryy to think that its week 11 already and theres just 3 weeks of uni left and soooo much work to do. Oh well atleast its getting over and im looking forward to going home then :). Okay maybe i should stop and tell u what u wanna know :p.
In today's class we worked with Microsoft Excel. I have used excel for quite a while now for basic accounts and when i did business statistics last semester.
Some people find it hard to put the right data in the right columns and rows but i find it too easy and convinient for calculations.
Everything in the tutorial task was pretty simple until the word 'macros' popped up. After going through it and reading it several times i started to understand how to insert the macros and im sure with practice it will be as simple as it is to enter data.
Anyway thats pretty much it... i know for a fact that i will use excel in the future and im glad i got to learn more about it
In today's class we worked with Microsoft Excel. I have used excel for quite a while now for basic accounts and when i did business statistics last semester.
Some people find it hard to put the right data in the right columns and rows but i find it too easy and convinient for calculations.
Everything in the tutorial task was pretty simple until the word 'macros' popped up. After going through it and reading it several times i started to understand how to insert the macros and im sure with practice it will be as simple as it is to enter data.
Anyway thats pretty much it... i know for a fact that i will use excel in the future and im glad i got to learn more about it
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Microsoft Word Week 10
Today we did an exercise on Microsoft Word.We had to write up a job application letter and do all sorts of things to it. These included using the Bold, Italics, Underline and Bullets functions
Headers, Footers and Double Spacing were pretty common to me but Track Changes and the whole Mail Merge thing really facinated me.
I use most of these general functions in my everyday working on Microsoft Word. Almost all my assignments need to be double spaced. these functions were not hard at all for me to use in my exercise.
Mail Merging is one thing that i found hard and had never heard of before. After working and learing how to mail merge i found that it was a much simpler for businesses to function and would save them a lot of time.
overall im happy i got to work on word here and learn stuff about it that im sure one day will come in handy :)
Headers, Footers and Double Spacing were pretty common to me but Track Changes and the whole Mail Merge thing really facinated me.
I use most of these general functions in my everyday working on Microsoft Word. Almost all my assignments need to be double spaced. these functions were not hard at all for me to use in my exercise.
Mail Merging is one thing that i found hard and had never heard of before. After working and learing how to mail merge i found that it was a much simpler for businesses to function and would save them a lot of time.
overall im happy i got to work on word here and learn stuff about it that im sure one day will come in handy :)
Essay - Violent Video Games and its effect on today’s youth
Shawn Khambatta
s2581302
1501ART
Videogames represent one of the fastest-growing parts of kids' media diet (Sweeting, 2005). Violence in video games is a rather new subject of discussion, yet it is a discussion of heated debate. Today, many people are worried about this ‘violence’ in our youth’s behavior.
Video games have become extremely popular over the last ten years, becoming one of children’s favorite activities. For example in a present study it was shown that adolescent boys play video games at an average of 13 hours a week whereas girls play for about 5 hours (Gentile, D. A. & Anderson, 2003). Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, games like Pong and Pac-man were thought of as harmless and were therefore accepted by the public. Then in the early 1990’s violent games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter came to be played by children. These games portrayed realistic human like characters engaging in battle in which they fought until death. These violent video games now rule the market. In fact, in 1998 a sample was taken of 33 popular Sega and Nintendo video games. It was found that 80% of these games were violent in nature (University Of Iowa, 2007).
Many video games since then have taken this ‘violence’ to a much higher and extreme level. A great example would be the grand theft auto series. These games promote violence, killing, breaking the law, destruction as well as degradation of women. (Sweeting, 2005). As a matter of fact, Grand Theft Auto 3 was not sold in Australia because of its rampant violence. The video game industry has recognized that males seem to enjoy violent video games more than females and have heavily targeted their games toward males (McGrath, 2000).
Gentile & Anderson (2003), state that playing video games may increase aggressive behaviour because violent acts are continually repeated throughout the video game. This method of repetition has long been considered an effective teaching method in reinforcing learning patterns. Students' level of exposure to violent video games is directly related to a variety of forms of aggression ranging from verbal aggression to outright violence. Not only that, It appears that not only does repeated exposure to violent video games increase aggressive behaviour, but it also decreases empathic helpful behaviour ( Barlow, 2007).
Part of the increase in aggressive behaviour is linked to the amount of time children are allowed to play video games. In one study by Walsh (2002), a majority of teens admitted that their parents do not impose a time limit on the number of hours they are allowed to play video games. The study also showed that most parents are unaware of the content or the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating of the video games their children play. Worse yet, parents may not know that the content of certain games could affect the social and emotional development of their child, and may even be hazardous to children's health (Kooijmans, 2004).
Another study was performed by David Walsh (2000) which showed negative association between the amount of time playing video games and the performance in school for children adolescents, and college students. He also stated that the amount of time playing video games is positively correlated with getting into physical fights, by many different measures. In short, teenagers who play more each week, play more yearly, and have played more over their lifetimes are more likely to have gotten into a fight in the past year than teenagers that play less.
Another negative impact is that players are rewarded for their violent acts. The interactive quality of video games differs from passively viewing television or movies because it allows players to become active participants in the game's script. (Gentile, D. A. & Anderson, 2003). Players benefit from engaging in acts of violence and are then able to move to the game's next level.
In yet another study, 210 college students were allowed to play Wolfenstein 3D, an extremely violent game, or Myst, a non-violent game. After a short time, it was found that the students who played the violent game punished an opponent for a longer period of time compared to the students who played the non violent game. It was shown that violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. In short, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Despite the fact that this study was for a short term effect, longer term effects are likely to be possible as the “new age” player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for the real-life conflict that may arise (Anderson and Dil, 2000).
A growing number of children and teens now have the technological skills to customize the computer games. A recent development is putting “skins” on the characters in the games (Walsh, 2002). This means that the player can insert the images of real people and places thereby making the games even more realistic.
The advancement of video game research in the past decade has greatly helped our understanding of its effects on development. Unfortunately though, more research is still needed. The video game industry has grown to the proportions of the movie industry, and shows no sign of stopping. With each generation of games come more realistic graphics, more violence, bigger world, and more possibilities. In order to fully control the effect that it has on children today, we must first better understand the effect it has on the personality and behaviours, and not just in the areas of aggression and hostility. As we reach this understanding hopefully developers can create games which will help our youth, expand their minds, and shy away from the current trend of violence in video games
References :
Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. . (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and life.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 78 (2), p772-790
Anonymous. (2006). Are violent videogames bad for you ?. Junior Scholastic. 109 (9), pg 7,1.
Barlow, D. (2007). Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy. The Education Digest. 72 (6), pg 79,2.
Gentile, D. A. & Anderson. (2003). Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. Available: http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/videogames.html. Last accessed 9 May 2007.
McGrath, J. (2000). The Effects of Home Video Game Violence and Fantasy Portrayals upon Enjoyment and Emotional State: A Gender Comparison. Available: http://www.psu.edu/dept/medialab/research/vgviolence.html. Last accessed May 7 2007.
Paul Sweeting. (2005). Kids playing more videogames. Video Business. 25 (11), 1.
Thomas A. Kooijmans. (2004). Effects of Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviours During Development. Available: http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/kooijmans.html. Last accessed 7 may 2007.
University Of Iowa. (2007). Violent Behavior; Psychologists publish 3 new studies on violent video game effects on youths . Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week. 181 (1), 1.
Walsh, D. (2002). Video Game Violence and Public Policy. Available: http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/conf2001/papers/walsh.html. Last accessed 7 may 2007.
Walsh, D. (2000). Interactive violence and children. Available: http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/0321wal1.pdf. Last accessed 7 may 2007.
s2581302
1501ART
Videogames represent one of the fastest-growing parts of kids' media diet (Sweeting, 2005). Violence in video games is a rather new subject of discussion, yet it is a discussion of heated debate. Today, many people are worried about this ‘violence’ in our youth’s behavior.
Video games have become extremely popular over the last ten years, becoming one of children’s favorite activities. For example in a present study it was shown that adolescent boys play video games at an average of 13 hours a week whereas girls play for about 5 hours (Gentile, D. A. & Anderson, 2003). Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, games like Pong and Pac-man were thought of as harmless and were therefore accepted by the public. Then in the early 1990’s violent games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter came to be played by children. These games portrayed realistic human like characters engaging in battle in which they fought until death. These violent video games now rule the market. In fact, in 1998 a sample was taken of 33 popular Sega and Nintendo video games. It was found that 80% of these games were violent in nature (University Of Iowa, 2007).
Many video games since then have taken this ‘violence’ to a much higher and extreme level. A great example would be the grand theft auto series. These games promote violence, killing, breaking the law, destruction as well as degradation of women. (Sweeting, 2005). As a matter of fact, Grand Theft Auto 3 was not sold in Australia because of its rampant violence. The video game industry has recognized that males seem to enjoy violent video games more than females and have heavily targeted their games toward males (McGrath, 2000).
Gentile & Anderson (2003), state that playing video games may increase aggressive behaviour because violent acts are continually repeated throughout the video game. This method of repetition has long been considered an effective teaching method in reinforcing learning patterns. Students' level of exposure to violent video games is directly related to a variety of forms of aggression ranging from verbal aggression to outright violence. Not only that, It appears that not only does repeated exposure to violent video games increase aggressive behaviour, but it also decreases empathic helpful behaviour ( Barlow, 2007).
Part of the increase in aggressive behaviour is linked to the amount of time children are allowed to play video games. In one study by Walsh (2002), a majority of teens admitted that their parents do not impose a time limit on the number of hours they are allowed to play video games. The study also showed that most parents are unaware of the content or the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating of the video games their children play. Worse yet, parents may not know that the content of certain games could affect the social and emotional development of their child, and may even be hazardous to children's health (Kooijmans, 2004).
Another study was performed by David Walsh (2000) which showed negative association between the amount of time playing video games and the performance in school for children adolescents, and college students. He also stated that the amount of time playing video games is positively correlated with getting into physical fights, by many different measures. In short, teenagers who play more each week, play more yearly, and have played more over their lifetimes are more likely to have gotten into a fight in the past year than teenagers that play less.
Another negative impact is that players are rewarded for their violent acts. The interactive quality of video games differs from passively viewing television or movies because it allows players to become active participants in the game's script. (Gentile, D. A. & Anderson, 2003). Players benefit from engaging in acts of violence and are then able to move to the game's next level.
In yet another study, 210 college students were allowed to play Wolfenstein 3D, an extremely violent game, or Myst, a non-violent game. After a short time, it was found that the students who played the violent game punished an opponent for a longer period of time compared to the students who played the non violent game. It was shown that violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. In short, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Despite the fact that this study was for a short term effect, longer term effects are likely to be possible as the “new age” player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for the real-life conflict that may arise (Anderson and Dil, 2000).
A growing number of children and teens now have the technological skills to customize the computer games. A recent development is putting “skins” on the characters in the games (Walsh, 2002). This means that the player can insert the images of real people and places thereby making the games even more realistic.
The advancement of video game research in the past decade has greatly helped our understanding of its effects on development. Unfortunately though, more research is still needed. The video game industry has grown to the proportions of the movie industry, and shows no sign of stopping. With each generation of games come more realistic graphics, more violence, bigger world, and more possibilities. In order to fully control the effect that it has on children today, we must first better understand the effect it has on the personality and behaviours, and not just in the areas of aggression and hostility. As we reach this understanding hopefully developers can create games which will help our youth, expand their minds, and shy away from the current trend of violence in video games
References :
Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. . (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and life.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 78 (2), p772-790
Anonymous. (2006). Are violent videogames bad for you ?. Junior Scholastic. 109 (9), pg 7,1.
Barlow, D. (2007). Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy. The Education Digest. 72 (6), pg 79,2.
Gentile, D. A. & Anderson. (2003). Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. Available: http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/videogames.html. Last accessed 9 May 2007.
McGrath, J. (2000). The Effects of Home Video Game Violence and Fantasy Portrayals upon Enjoyment and Emotional State: A Gender Comparison. Available: http://www.psu.edu/dept/medialab/research/vgviolence.html. Last accessed May 7 2007.
Paul Sweeting. (2005). Kids playing more videogames. Video Business. 25 (11), 1.
Thomas A. Kooijmans. (2004). Effects of Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviours During Development. Available: http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/kooijmans.html. Last accessed 7 may 2007.
University Of Iowa. (2007). Violent Behavior; Psychologists publish 3 new studies on violent video game effects on youths . Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week. 181 (1), 1.
Walsh, D. (2002). Video Game Violence and Public Policy. Available: http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/conf2001/papers/walsh.html. Last accessed 7 may 2007.
Walsh, D. (2000). Interactive violence and children. Available: http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/0321wal1.pdf. Last accessed 7 may 2007.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
week 8 - 3D worlds and socialising
When I first entered the tutorial and Adam told us about this whole 3D, virtual reality chat world where people from all over take the form of some sort of tourist or any other being and freely roam the skies of the cyber world. To me this seemed like fun as it would be like the regular chatting you do on MSN but in a video game.
Besides the obvious 3D difference between ActiveWorlds and MSN is how i interacted with the people around the virtual world in which I was in. I felt as though it was easier to communicate with others as you could see who and where they were. It was fun to feel like you actually existed within your conversation, not just words on the page. It encouraged a different kind of communication. In this 3D world, Your conversations are totally open for everyone to see. Unlike MSN, it was not private in any way.
Msn allows you to chat to other people, but you have to already know them or at least already have their e-mail address. This is unlike Activeworld, where you meet people when you visit their worlds or have them visit yours. That's why the socialising is different; on msn you talk to your friends as yourself. On Activeworld you can create an environment, become a character and talk to others who have done the same. The fact that Activeworlds is 3D obviously makes a difference because it allows the creation of the worlds and everything that comes with it.
In all, today’s tutorial made me realise how advance technologies of today are as I never imagined something like Activeworlds even existed but it sure is cool :)
Besides the obvious 3D difference between ActiveWorlds and MSN is how i interacted with the people around the virtual world in which I was in. I felt as though it was easier to communicate with others as you could see who and where they were. It was fun to feel like you actually existed within your conversation, not just words on the page. It encouraged a different kind of communication. In this 3D world, Your conversations are totally open for everyone to see. Unlike MSN, it was not private in any way.
Msn allows you to chat to other people, but you have to already know them or at least already have their e-mail address. This is unlike Activeworld, where you meet people when you visit their worlds or have them visit yours. That's why the socialising is different; on msn you talk to your friends as yourself. On Activeworld you can create an environment, become a character and talk to others who have done the same. The fact that Activeworlds is 3D obviously makes a difference because it allows the creation of the worlds and everything that comes with it.
In all, today’s tutorial made me realise how advance technologies of today are as I never imagined something like Activeworlds even existed but it sure is cool :)
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