Here are some other things that come up in the readings that you may like to check out:

At Burger King, you can have chicken your way

http://www.subservientchicken.com

John West Salmon "leaked" this ad

Bear Fight

Web Resources

SOME WEB RESOURCES FOR IRUS PROJECT THESIS:

http://www.exquisitecorpse.com

http://www.ekac.org/Telepresence.art._94.html

http://www.ekac.org/Telepresence.art._94.html

Activism & Gaming Readings for Thursday

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Here are more fun readings for Thursday Nov 6th:

A game design methodology to incorporate social activist themes - Mary Flanagan, Helen Nissenbaum

GLS: Embedding Social Activist Principles In Game Design - Gamasutra.com

Video Games Go to Washington: The Story Behind The Howard Dean for Iowa Game - Ian Bogost, Gonzalo Frasca

Smart Mobs: the Power of the Mobile Many - Howard Rheingold

If you have time, check out: Activism: the Public Policy Game
and also this opinion piece on Gamasutra (it talks about McCain's Game, Pork Invaders).

Emotionally Conscious Games Readings

I will hand copies of these out in class, but just for the record.

The Tao of Equus, Linda Kohanov: Predatory Logic pp. 92-97, Horse Training for Therapists pp. 223-241

Video Games, Fiction, and Emotion, Grant Tavinor

Neurofeedback in Psychological Practice, Frank Masterpasqua and Kathryn N Healey

Riding Between the Worlds, Linda Kohanov: Emotional Message Chart pp. 231-237

Although not directly related, some of you may be interested in looking at Epona Equestrian Services, which is Linda Kohanov's barn/business.

Readings for Thursday

Hello all, Happy Tuesday!... the assignment for Thursdays class is -

1."Lessons on the uses of ICT for out of school youth and adults in developing countries"
Bob Day and Rod Grewan

2."Inclusive education and equity an Latin America"
Todd Fletcher and Alfredo J. Artiles

3. Chapter 3 "Pedagogy of the Opressed" ("the essence of education as the practice of freedom")
Paulo Freir

I will have handouts for the 3 readings in class today-

Please also check out these sites about some of the education projects in place
(non-religious based) in Guatemala
USAID/Guatemala
Open Windows Foundation
UNICEF: Bi-Lingual Intercultural education for indigenous children
there are many, many more education projects going on in the country.... the "Rose Foundation" has some pretty nice, short videos on
YouTube, as well....

Here is a video with literacy statistics and photos from Guatemala (if your not a Rufus Wainwright fan, you may want to mute...) Video


This is a long video (an hour) about the use of Audio Technology to Reduce Global Illiteracy
I will talk about it in class, check it out if you have time-

Hope all is going well with all of your projects-

Terrorists on Twitter

Something of interest related to my presentation:
Terrorist 'tweets'? US Army warns of Twitter dangers.


As best said in the slashdot editorial about this story, "just wait until the army finds out about chat rooms and email!"

Readings. I know you're excited.

Here are some readings that might be helpful before Tuesday.

They're decently short and not too difficult to read-

One

Two

Three

It might also help to browse around PsychCafe or just google "online counseling" or "online therapy" and see what interesting sites come up. If you do this, pay attention to the design and who you think they appeal to/what they offer/what they don't offer.

I've been reading mostly books on the topic up until this week and have been looking for new materials that may be of use to share before Tuesday. If I find any, I will post them Saturday. I know that's last minute, though, and will not expect the additional reads. 

Woot. Have a good weekend!

Style Guides

Here are two style guide options to follow for your proposals. Please be sure to choose one or the other and follow it, beginning with the write up of your lit and media review.

Chicago Manuel of Style Online
APA

Emotionally Conscious Games

Video games have previously been used for recreation, but are becoming popular as a device for learning, health and other “useful” activities. This paper proposes the idea of using video games to help a person recognize and handle emotions. The term created for these emotion awareness games is “emotionally conscious games”, which descends from “socially conscious games”. Emotional well-being is often derided in today’s fast-paced, business oriented society, but emotional awareness can actually help a person make better decisions. Specific hardware devices, such as an EEG or the Emotiv EPOC headset will be needed to read brainwaves and/or emotions from the player. This data can than be processed in some meaningful way, providing some kind of useful in-game feedback. Since the “big picture” of emotionally conscious games may be too extensive for a master’s thesis, some smaller milestones are presented as more appropriate goals. Emotionally conscious games will draw from many areas, including psychology, signal processing, and game development.

For more complete details, download the .doc file.

Color and Design in Politics:Obama

I thought this blog was pretty interesting:

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/10/07/colors-for-obama/

Social Media Co-Lab

Here is a demo of Howard Rheingold's co-lab platform. Jenn, you might find some inspiration or ideas for your project.

I'm proposing to you tonight.

To view my proposal document before class (or after), you may follow this link:

Sweet sweet proposal

Neural Headset

Not sure how many of you are familiar with these, but since they'll probably relate to my research and maybe some of yours I'm posting here.

Emotiv Systems is developing a neural headset for gamers, which will be available late this year (2008). The novelty of this device is not that it can read brainwaves, but that it reads brainwaves without having to stick things to the person's head. Add in a gyroscope, and some infrared for head tracking and you could end up with a really neat device.

Another neural headset from NeuroSky, the MindSet. This one seems to work somewhat differently than the Emotiv EPOC. Both headsets read brainwaves without silicon gel. However the Mindset doesn't read facial expressions; it seems more focused on attention and eye-tracking.

presentation schedule

Project Proposals
10/7 Molly
10/9 Jenn
10/14 Erica
10/16 Liz
10/21 Morehshin
10/23 Kate

Lit and Media Reviews
10/28 Jenn
10/30 Molly
11/4 Erica
11/6 Liz
11/11 Morehshin
11/13 Kate

Shop Dropping

Here is the website I was talking about in our class yesterday. This is one f my favorite art/culture movements and I'm hoping resistance like this means that there are people out there in the spectacle society who still see things and are able to critique and react:

http://shopdropping.com/

Interactivity

I was reading the article "Media Studies 2.0" today and it came to the interactivity part which we all address as one of the important characteristics of new media.

In the 2004 edition I reviewed these earlier arguments and noted that:

Most of these things are still true: you wouldn't expect old-school media studies to reinvent itself within three years. But the arrival of new media within the mainstream has had an impact, bringing vitality and creativity to the whole area, as well as whole new areas for exploration (especially around the idea of 'interactivity'). In particular, the fact that it is quite easy for media students to be reasonably slick media producers in the online environment, means that we are all more actively engaged with questions of creation, distribution and audience.

Then I remembered this other article that I read before called "Interactive Web sites draw minds, shape public perception". I think it's interesting how this article looks at different audiences with different aims and in different website with different subjects . The author tries to analyze "interactivity" concept and discuss how interactive websites have different impacts depends on the functions of the websites and characteristics of audiences.

Interactive Web sites draw minds, shape public perception

University Park, Pa. -- The interactive look and feel of a corporate website could help shape positive perceptions about the organization if the site includes a likeable design and features that engage the target audience, especially job seekers, according to media researchers.

S. Shyam Sundar, professor of film, video and media studies at Penn State, and Jamie Guillory, formerly an undergraduate student at Penn State, are trying to understand how interactivity in websites influences the public perception of an organization. In previous studies of websites of political candidates, Sundar had found that the candidates were rated more positively if their site had some interactive features, even though the sites had no new content, and the candidates held the same policy positions. But too much interactivity tends to turn off people.

"Websites with low to medium levels of interactivity create positive perceptions but for medium to high interactivity, it actually falls down," said Sundar. "In general, too much interactivity is not desirable, and may lead to information overload."

Whatever effects, positive or negative, on a site, interactivity acts as a volume knob that boosts the effect, he explained, noting, "Just through the presence of such features, people attribute meaning to the content or the nature of the site."

The Penn State researchers wanted to see if the same effect holds true even if the people viewing the website are highly engaged, or whether they form their opinions based on bells and whistles on a website only when they do not know enough about a topic.

In the current study, 116 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of seven websites representing low, medium, and high levels of interactivity. The students were specifically assigned to review the career section of these organizations because these sites require a higher level of involvement.

Features on these sites ranged from enabling a person to click on a link for job inquiries, follow a link for information on a specific job, submit an online application and view video footage of the company and its employees.

Students then answered a questionnaire on their perceptions of an organization based on their experience with its website. The study results show that there is a significant positive relationship between the level of interactivity on a career website and job seekers' perception of that organization.

"We found that college students looking for a job are more likely to apply to companies that have interactive websites with bells and whistles," said Sundar, who presented his findings today (May 25) at the 58th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) in Montreal. "But the students use these features to make a logical connection."

The work received a Top Paper award from the association’s Public Relations division.

"We found that both liking and involvement are significant mediators such that people who saw a high interactive website liked it more, and they also got involved as a result of liking it more," he added.

The findings may have important implications for organizations. For instance, by simply tweaking the features on the website and without changing any of the content, a company could project a positive image to its targeted demographic.

In other words, the website of an organization could feature an optimal amount of interactivity specifically tailored to its target audience, and thereby control the impressions that people form of that organization.

But Sundar also cautions against being taken in by fancy websites that promise much and deliver little.

"We have uncovered a psychological phenomena here, that is the more interactive some thing is, more people -- especially college students -- are likely to buy into whatever is being advocated," said Sundar, who is also a founder of the Penn State Media Effects Research Laboratory. "We are trying to warn them against that potential danger."

Researchers say the next step is to figure out all the different meanings people are attaching when they are faced with new responsive features.

"Interactivity is multi-faceted in terms of the meanings it communicates. It is not just about interaction alone," added Sundar.

###

The Penn State Media Effects Research Laboratory is at http://www.psu.edu/dept/medialab

Article thrived from http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/ps-iwd052308.php

Reading for Next Class

Steven Best and Douglas Kellner Debord and the Postmodern Turn:

New Stages of the Spectacle; Guy Debord The Society of the Spectacle Ch 1; and Media Studies 2.0.

culture/power/history

Here are some questions to guide you through the reading for Thursday.

1. How and why have notions of culture recently changed?

2. How has the notion of power changed?

3. What does history have to do with it all?

4. What does it mean to say that power and resistance go hand and hand? (p 19)

5. How does Gramsci notion of hegemony understand the role of culture in society? (p 23 last graph)

6. What does this have to do with digital media? Please make a list of a few questions which could be applied to digital media and which draw on the notions the of power, culture and history described here.

Student Auctioning Virginity at Brothel

I was reading this article/news yesterday, thinking how these last 5-6 years, the internet's potentials have given people the opportunity to sell things they could never sell before trough the media . I don't know if you have heard the story of some people who tried to sell their "life" which means themselves or the story of the Australian man who put his "entire life" including all of his properties as a package to sell on ebay . Not surprisingly these stories got so much attention. more
The story I put here, is about a female student who has decided to sell her virginity online. For me,the interesting point is that how the internet and basically new media have made it possible to sell things they hardly could be sold as expensive and as publicly as this. Websites such as ebay, craigslist, etc have given the people the chance to cross the limitations of things they may want to sell. In addition, based on some feminism's theories, this could be seen as a an online prostitution. I'm interested to see what you guys think about this or how do you read this story?

***

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 11) - A 22-year-old woman in the United States is publicly auctioning her virginity to pay for her college education, sparking a heated online debate about sex and morality.

The student from San Diego, California, who is using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan for "safety reasons," said she had no moral dilemma with her decision and found it "empowering."

Splash News

But few bloggers sided with her and some suspected her intentions.

"I don't think auctioning my virginity will solve all my problems," she told celebrity television show The Insider on Wednesday. "But it will create some financial stability. I'm ready for the controversy, I know it will come along. I'm ready to do this."

"We live in a capitalist society. Why shouldn't I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?" she added.

The woman, who has earned a bachelor degree in women's studies and now wants to start a master's degree in marriage and family therapy, is hoping the bidding will hit $1 million.

The online auction site eBay turned her down so the auction will take place at a Nevada brothel, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, where her sister is working to pay off her college debts.

The date for the auction was not immediately available.

In a flurry of media interviews and appearances, she admitted that her mother, a fourth grade teacher, does not agree with her decision. Many on the Internet also disapprove.

"Maybe this is the conservative in me coming out, but this seems so wrong," wrote one blogger, Mike. "Isn't this prostitution?"

"I must say I feel sad for the future of our society," said Mike from Montclair State University in New Jersey.

"What disgusts me about this whole thing is the fact that she is promoting it so heavily. It seems less about having some guy pay for her virginity and more about trying to get her 15 minutes and a reality show," said a blogger called "Ent Lawyer."

She does have her supporters -- not surprisingly Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch.

"I think it's a tremendous idea. Why lose it to some guy in the backseat of a Toyota when you can pay for your education?" he told reporters.

Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy

Copyright 2008, Reuters

2008-09-11 00:21:25

Course Schedule

SCHEDULE: Please come to class prepared to discuss the reading assigned for that day.

WEEK 1 | Transformations: Cultural industries and how we study them
Tues Sept 9 | Introductions, course plan and intro to networked public culture

Thurs Sept 11 | Reading: Web.studies: Introduction to the New Edition; Ito et. al. Intro; Livingston Chapter 1.

WEEK 2 | Theorizations: Critical studies, Power, and New Media
Tues Sept 16 | Reading: New Media Theory Primer, Jeffrey Bardzell; Culture, Power, History, Introduction, Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley and Sherry B. Ortner (hand out)

Thurs Sept 18 | Reading*: Barry Wellman The Network Community;
Fred Turner Where Counter Culture Met the New Economy;
Manuel Castells, Why Networks Matter;
danah boyd Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites;
Yochai Benkler Wealth of Networks Video and
Chapter 1;
Steven Best and Douglas Kellner Debord and the Postmodern Turn: New Stages of the Spectacle; Guy Debord The Society of the Spectacle Ch 1; Marshall McLuhan “The Medium is the Message” (handout); Raymond Williams “The Technology and the Society” (handout)
*This week’s reading will be divided up among groups of students. Each group will present and lead a discussion on the article they are assigned.

WEEK 3 | Explorations: Digital Media Research
Tues Sept 23 | Reading: Media Studies 2.0; Web.Studies, Nina Wakeford “Developing Methodological Frameworks for Studying the World Wide Web” (handout)

Thurs Sept 25 | Reading: Personal Portable Pedestrian and Young People and New Media
Short Book Reviews Due


WEEK 4 | Method Workshops
Tues Sept 30 | Workshop on interviewing and ethnographic investigative methods
Reading: TBA

Thurs Oct 02 | Workshop/discussion on innovative forms of media analysis
Check out:
ArtLab
Digital Ethnography of YouTube
Digital Youth Research

WEEK 5 |
Tues Oct 07 | project proposals
Thurs Oct 09 | project proposals

WEEK 6 |
Tues Oct 14 | project proposals
Thurs Oct 16 | project proposals

WEEK 7 |
Tues Oct 21 | project proposals
Thurs Oct 23 | project proposals

WEEK 8 |
Tues Oct 28 | Literature and Media Reviews
Thurs Nov 30 | Literature and Media Reviews

WEEK 9 |
Tues Nov 04 | Literature and Media Reviews
Thurs Nov 06 | Literature and Media Reviews

WEEK 10 |
Tues Nov 11 | Literature and Media Reviews
Thurs Nov 13 | Literature and Media Reviews

FINAL | Proposals Due: 1:00pm, Monday, November 17, 2008

Course Syllabus

DMST4850: Digital Media Research Methods
Fall 2008
Tues/Thurs 4-5:50
Sturm Hall 434
Professor: Adrienne Russell
Email: adrienne.russell@du.edu
Office: Sturm Hall 216
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-2 and by appointment
Course blog: http://dmsresearchfall2008.blogspot.com/

DIGITAL MEDIA RESEARCH METHODS explores strategies and techniques for conducting research in the area of digital media studies. It is also a course in applied theory and will engage the ideas of major historical and contemporary thinkers in order to build on and respond to their work on the intersection of technology, culture and various forms of power. The goals of the course are: 1) the strengthen your ability to critically assess digital media technologies and practices and the various methods used to research them; 2) to build the skills and knowledge necessary to create theoretically informed digital media artifacts and analyses; and 3) to implement these skills in writing your master’s project/thesis proposal.

The format of the course will combine the study and discussion of published works; analysis of digital media projects; and a project or thesis proposal that sets out your program of research that includes an exploration the convergence of theory and practice in the digital media of your choice.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Misa Matsuda Eds. Personal, Portable, Pedestrian. MIT Press, 2005.

Sonia Livingston. Young People and New Media. Sage, 2002.

ASSIGNMENTS
Book Reviews (10%)
Two book reviews Personal, Portable, Pedestrian and Young People and New Media due September 25. While it might be helpful to consult other reviews on the book, and you should definitely talk to your classmates about the book, please write a completely original (i.e. not plagiarized, not even one phrase) review. It should be organized like an essay, with a thesis and a few points or examples to back it up. Please do not summarize but rather try to capture the overall theme of the book and explicate its theoretical and methodological underpinnings.

Initial Proposal (10%)
Prepare a 20-minute proposal of your project, followed by discussion. Also submit a short written document (5-7 double-space pages) for your class project on the day of your presentation. Please bring hard-copies of this for the class. Your proposal should include the following:
i. CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION: themes and content; theoretical/critical contexts; supporting material (including literature and media reviews); production and development skills; desired outcome (including media formats and delivery modes)
ii. PROJECT GOALS: establish what you expect to learn while creating this project; also relate previous coursework and experience to the proposed work
iii. OUTLINE: sketch a basic outline of anticipated workflow and process stages
iv. TIMELINE: you should also project a timeline along with your outline, estimating the time you anticipate needed to complete each step.
v. ABSTRACT: summarize your project in 150 to 200 words

II) Class Facilitation: Literature & Media Reviews (20%)
You will be responsible for conducting one class session related to your proposed project. You will be asked to assign a reading of 3-5 texts (60-100 pages) and 1-5 examples of digital media, depending on the length of the reading assignments and the time-commitment of the examples. This material will provide you an opportunity to synthesize information, concepts, media, and strategies relevant to your class project. Please turn in a written literature and media review (7-10 double-spaced)

Guidelines: Biographical/historical information, as well as demonstrations, projections, video clips, and so forth, are kept to a minimum. Beyond a basic introduction to each writer or work, such information is relevant to the critical/theoretical issues involved in your project. The presentation prepares the class for a focused discussion of your project plans. While maintaining a critical focus, the presentation should cover a range of issues and concepts from the focal texts. Supporting materials or Web-based resources should be effectively chosen, maintaining the presentation focus rather than taking the presentation off on a tangent.

III) Proposal (40%)
Your thesis or project proposal should follow the below thesis proposal guidelines (taken from the DMS Graduate Handbook). Note guidelines for projects and thesis proposals are different in DMS Graduate Handbook but for the purpose of this course all students should follow the thesis guidelines.

Guidelines: Thesis proposals run between 25-30 double-spaced pages, with additional pages for storyboards, mock-ups, site maps, and so on. While the final format may vary according to the direction of the primary advisor, all thesis proposals should include the following:

1) Overview of the Thesis: this may take the form of a general introduction to the topic, research, design, and production of the work being proposed. This section should address the work’s scope, the approach to be used to examine its subject matter, and the student's interest in the subject and the research methods employed. The thesis proposal should also address the digital media production necessary for its completion, including design elements, format and delivery.

2) Literature and Media Review: a student should include a review of the literature and media related to the specific topic, providing a clear and succinct statement of the questions and issues that the Thesis will address. This review should provide a critical analysis examining the approach to the topic and the proposed work’s design and production, highlighting the specific issues in the debate about that approach. The discussion should make clear where the student places herself or himself within that debate to justify the approach applied to the Thesis. The proposal should include a discussion of the contributions the study will make to the existing discourse on the thesis topic.

3) Outline and Timeline: the student should include a brief outline of each component or chapter, accompanied by a timeline for completion.

4) Thesis Abstract: summarize the thesis in 150-200 words.

IV) In-class and online discussions (20%)
You will receive an invitation via email to join the course blog. Please follow the directions in the email. This is not an extended discussion format as much as it is a graffiti wall and an ongoing exercise in collaborative linking. At least every other week you should contribute to our blog a link and a short review (1 paragraph) of a site, article, art project, news story, or other resource relevant to that week's reading assignments. GENERAL POLICIES
Attendance
Attendance is required. If you can’t make it to class because you are sick or because of an emergency please find out what you missed from a classmate.

Academic Honesty Please be honest in your work. You are expected to express your thoughts in your own words and to use citations when using other people’s words or ideas.