Buisness and Technology

The article “Innovation, Intrigue, Subterfuge, and the Birth of an Industry” sheds light on the fact that patent filing has hurt inventors and stifled innovation from the very beginning. Basically, Alexander Grahm Bell, the man who was granted with the first telephone patent in 1876, represents how money has corrupted the patent industry. Antonio Meucci’s actually came up with the idea of the telephone first around 1856. However, he was unable to patent his invention because he lacked the funding. Although, some believe he may not have actually understood how the telephone would have worked. Regardless, he could have filled for a design patent at the very least and gotten some sort of recognition. 

On the other hand, Elisha Gray definitely did understand electric telephones an how they worked. He was a prominent American inventor and one of the founders of Western Electric. He invented the liquid transmitter and he would have been recognized for being the first to transmit sound with this technology if it had not been for Bell. Bell and Gray were apparently working on the technology at the same time. Bill found Antonio Meucci’s work on phones and then bribed the USPTO to let him know if any other telephone patents were filed. When Gray’s lawyer filed a partial patent on Feb. 14^th, 1876, Bell filled a full application on the same day. The filings were similar and Bell received the patent, although he had not even fully tested the product.

Reading about this is frustrating as Meucci and Gray deserved to get the patents over Bell but because Bell had a good lawyer and money he was able to manipulate the situation for his own benefit. It is a bit disheartening that even then, patent wars were happening on a smaller scale. The little guy struggled then as he does now. Small start ups are barely able to compete with Apple, Samsung, Google, and the other established giants. 

Furthermore, such a corrupt system makes it less worthwhile for inventors to come up with anything in the first place because they could easily lose their rights to their own products.  People want to profit off of their inventions, but if this doesn't happen even a little recognition goes a long way. Bell should be ashamed of himself.

Living the "High" Life

Today in Businessweek an article discusses how many workers in the Silicon Valley have medical Mariana cards. Apparently, “People just don’t care,” if you smoke, “you don’t need to hide it” and if you don’t smoke, “you accept [the fact] that there are people around you who do.” However, it is not used illegally as buyers in California are allowed to have medical marihuana cards. Palliative Health is a medical marijuana dispensary in San Jose right in the heart of the Silicon Valley and sells everything from marijuana infused sodas to chocolates. 40% of Palliative Health’s customers are engineers, programmers, as well as other tech workers who get back and whist pain from programming 15 hours a day.

MedMar Healing Center, which is only a half-mile away from Adobe, offers marijuana infused chocolates known as “Veda Chews.” Apparently, they do not give workers a “high” but do provide them with “the mental clarity…and pain relief” allowing them work more effectively.  There are even infused breath sprays available

The big tech firms are less happy about it and do not formally approve, however, companies are finding it harder and harder to find employees that can pass preemployment drug tests. However, as the drug does not inhibit tech workers intelligence or value it seems like it will stay popular. And as for the distributors, they will probably be getting more and more business.

Sexuality Online

I thought that the unit about sexuality online was really interesting, especially regarding racial and gender stereotypes. As a small Asian female, I've experienced a lot of stereotypical approaches online. On online mediums such as facebook and myspace, I've been approached and friend requested so many times by numerous males with comments referring to my race and looks. At first, I thought it was really annoying and disturbing, but after a while, I got used to the idea that stereotypically, Asian women are looked upon as "sex symbols" in a way. However, after our discussions in our rhetoric class, I realized that it's actually pretty sad that this conception has become so commonly accepted. According to Mia Consalvo's article, girls, especially teenagers online get insecure and create false impressions of the world based on what’s presented online.

On another note, I’d also like to discuss the effect of video games on female players. I personally play a lot of video games, and I usually play these with my guy friends. However, whenever we play games, there are always female characters that are dressed in very scantily clad clothing. My friends would always jokingly make snide comments about how sexy she looked which made me feel really uncomfortable. This is the topic that I wrote my final paper on, and I really think that these games should be made more realistic (both for female and male characters) to represent a more relatable game world. 

A Reflection on Ryman's Air

Although it's been quite a while since we've read Geoff Ryman's novel Air, I'd like to discuss the theme of gender roles and stereotypes by observing some of the characters in this novel. If we look at the female and male characters in Air, we can see that in general, the female characters are portrayed as more intelligent, determined, and strong-minded while the male characters are mostly depicted as irrational and not technologically savvy. For example, Mae is the female protagonist of this novel, and she definitely represents a positive image of women. When she learns about Air, she doesn't back away from it; instead, she strives to master its intricacies so that she can help the rest of her village prepare for the second coming of Air. She comes across as a character that never gives up fighting for what she believes in, even though the majority of the village is against her beliefs and efforts. She is also a very successful businesswoman who has to work extra hard to support her husband, and later herself. Her friend, Kwan, is Eloi and thus suffers from some stereotypes associated with this native tribe. However, she strives to defy and disprove these claims by using Air to create pages that reveal the truth about the Eloi. Again, as a woman, she is portrayed as a strong character.

Moving on, the men in this novel are definitely not represented in a very favorable light. First, Mae’s husband Joe is probably the least positive character in this novel. From the beginning, we can see that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing – Mae has to help him with his business but even then, he doesn’t listen to her advice. He’s also very irrational and extremely mean to his supportive wife. Additionally, Teacher Shen is the male schoolteacher of Mae’s village. He believes that what Mae is doing is wrong, and thus denounces her in front of a crowd of people. He is seen as very behind the times and irrational with his temper. Furthermore, Mr. Oz Oz is a member of the government but is there to help Mae help her village. Although he has the right intentions, he is illustrated in sort of a helpless and stupid manner. Thus, with these characters, we can see that women are portrayed in a much more positive light than men are in Ryman’s novel Air. I thought that this was quite interesting, especially because Ryman is writing as a male.

 

Consalvo's Hot Dates

In Mia Consalvo's essay Hot dates and Fairytale Romances, the sexuality presented in games is explored. Typically a male heterosexual character is the protagonist of the game, because heterosexuality seems to be what is deemed "normal" in society. They usually appear very masculine and rulers of the worlds, whereas girls are given more of a vulnerable position, waiting to be rescued by the brave men. Both characterizations interact throughout the games while expressing these characteristics of masculine men out on some sort of adventure, trying to win the heart of the female character. This is exemplified in Final Fantasy IX. The main character Zidane is out to save the princess Garnet. On the surface it is a game involving a heterosexual romance that "naturalizes male-female sexual relations and punishes woman who attempt to deviate from this system." A second approach of looking at this is that it is an interactive game, where the player has control over the actions and decisions the characters in the game make. Therefore the players' own view of sexuality, whether they be heterosexual or gay, may affect the actions he or she chooses and the path the character follows.
This second approach is exactly how the Sims is played. The gamer can create and control actions of characters. The characters can be manipulated in every way imaginable, from the way they look and dress to when they go to the bathroom. Their sexuality, in effect, is also controlled. The player chooses the gender of the character they want to create first and foremost. This decision comes from the player's own views. For instance, if the player is female, they might want to create a female like themselves and play the game choosing things to do they might do in real life. In the game there is also the option of having a family. However, only males may be married to females and vice versa, but marriages between males and males or females with females are not allowed, despite having the option while in the game to kiss and sleep with sims of the same gender. They may even be given the option of adopting a baby together, but marriage is not an option allowed between them. These options in the game allows us to study the sexuality in games and what is and isn't allowed in games, reflecting the same ideals present in society.
Both examples of games and their sexuality show how games should be looked at more than just on the surface. It also shows that though many games contain heterosexual ideals, they can be interpreted in many different ways by the person playing. They are interactive games that require controllers to move the game along in whichever direction the player chooses.

Aoife Parkin

McDonald’s Game Does Not Play Nicely

The McDonald’s computer game was interesting and addicting to say the least. I thought it was pretty amusing how we were assigned to play a video game for homework. When I first clicked on the link, I did not know what to expect. The page opened and I instantly went to tutorials. I thought to myself that the tutorials were extremely long and I sort of skimmed through a lot of it. The song playing in the background stood out while navigating through the interface. I was then ready to play the game.

I starting playing and I gave it a few tries; I tried learning how to strategize as I went along. I noticed that the game was a lot more difficult than I expected and, then, I soon realized that there was no way to “beat” the game because it is never-ending; however, this did not discourage me from playing. In fact, it made the game more addicting. I continued playing and even told my girlfriend to play it; she too enjoyed playing the game. I inevitably ended in bankruptcy every time and a lot of times it did not take much time. I believe my highest score was $60,000. I noticed that the further I progressed in the game easier it was to lose. I played until I decided I should work on other homework.

What I find especially curious about my experience with the game is the potential effect of playing. The game forces one to utilize all of the negative actions a corporations can take, with no regard to the well-being of society, and does not allow you to play the game as a “good” corporation. The game definitely serves as a medium of persuasion, which makes me take a step back and reflect back on the roles of video games in society. Sure, video games serve for the entertainment of the player, but what subliminal message do the games intend to spread? It is important to be aware of the persuasiveness of games and not allow the games to manipulate.

I enjoyed taking Rhetoric R1A….I’ll miss everyone :/

-Kevin Pineda

Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet

A person’s race is a very important part of a person’s live. Race is the way in which a person identifies themselves with others. The virtual world, by which I mean online video games, chat rooms, social network sites and other communities online should be a place where individuals can feel comfortable being themselves. However, there are great amounts of people who do not input their race because they believe that other individuals will not approve of them.

In Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet by Lisa Nakamura, Asian-American, African-American and Latino users decided to exclude their “real life” race in their descriptions. I believe that these individuals should not be afraid of posting what they are. They should be proud of their race and not care if immature people on the Internet are going to judge them. These groups of people already get judged in the real world. They should be able to be themselves in the virtual world.

As an American-Mexican woman I have learned to value my roots and I have learned to appreciate and respect other cultures. I am proud of what I am and I do not exclude my race in the virtual world because I want people to know who and what I am. I do not want the “Default Whiteness” to be on my social network site. I think that people need to mature and begin to embrace every different culture that exists. When this happens the virtual world will be accepting and so will the real world. However, I don’t see this taking place in my lifetime, but I hope that I am wrong.

I know that I did not speak very much in class but I really enjoyed this class. Air is now one of my favorite novels. I literally could not stop reading the book. I would always read ahead because I found the book too interesting to stop reading! Thank you for everything!

Claudia Andrade

Digital Arts and Culture '09

For those of you interested in what advanced work in new media theory looks like, check out the schedule of presentations at this year's Digital Arts and Culture conference:

http://dac09.uci.edu/

I'll be there!

Artists for Movement

The United States is known as a melting pot nation: with a slew of ethnicities, religions, and ideologies blended together to form one diversely unified nation. No one person originated from this land, as our founding fathers migrated to the coasts of the East Coast from Great Britain. For these reason the subject of immigration hits home to many of us. Personally, as a child of two Mexican immigrants, it is a subject met with personal accounts and sympathies for those who tread arduous journeys to reach America, which many see as the “land of dreams”. In his/ her article “Border Hacks: Electronic Civil Disobedience and the Politics of Immigration”, Raley discusses political power in art and media that allow voices of opposition to be heard, despite the quieting by the slanted, political main stream culture. More importantly does Raley emphasize individual power in forming resistance to positions we do not agree with are simply unjust.
With a massive number of “3,500 people [who] are reported dead attempting to cross the United States” (3), it is evident that something must be done with the way the U.S.-Mexico border is dealt with. Although these individuals are attempting to enter this country, their consequences for their actions are not equivalent to the consequence they are given, death. Raley continues to explain that “Minutemen claim the right to make sovereign decisions about friend and enemy” (8). Minutemen are in general right-winged Americans strongly against the ideas of foreigners entering our country, and although this may not encompass the nation’s beliefs, the still hold the power to catch and return people back to their home country. These individuals grasp someone else’s life in their hands – whether or not they achieve their goal of reaching a land where they’re potential matches the opportunities provided, or whether they return to a life of scrounging for jobs at the local tienda(store). Our nation and culture continuously refers to these struggling individuals as ‘Others’ or ‘Aliens’ which in turn deems them “neither alive nor dead, but interminably spectral” (10). As a result, American citizens dismiss the migrants’ human characteristics and lump them together as a bounded society – without looking more in depth into their various experiences that each one of them has. Therefore the “war against terrorism is a war without end will be one that justifies itself endlessly in relation to the spectral infinity of its enemy” (10). As the political continues to dehumanize immigrants and impersonalize their efforts, a resistance by American society will persist because it is as if they are fighting nothing—just another meaningless face of the many.
In order for the whispers of the opposition to become more audible, forms of art and media allow for widespread coverage and personalization. Trebor Scholz and Carol Flax’s hypermedia project, Tuesday Afternoon, “contrasts issue of individually experienced border control” (19) by superimposing a map of the U.S.-Mexico border with a QuickTime video of someone walking along the border, short stories are presented in hypertexual form—from a woman being denied entry to a country after displaying her faulty travel visas, to a women given thirty days to leave the country after her marriage of convenience is nullified. It also estimates where people have fallen to death along the border. All of these accounts allow the large population an opportunity to open their eyes to personal accounts of the dismay and pain that may come along with being denied access to a country. It is not merely a trip back to where you came from, rather it is a shattering of hopes and plans that are extensively made; it is a more comfortable life denied, it is a denial of harnessing one’s potential. In art demonstrations such as this, first person accounts are presented in a way where those not familiar with this kind of exertion can see the disappointment in a migrants face, feel the moment of rejection, and make opinions of their own as to the raw nature of immigrating. This art form encourages “freedom of movement” (18) in that all the hardships would be solved if people were allowed the mere freedom of going where one chooses. It is the “revenge of nomadism over the principle of territory” (23). This idea is a large idea, in that has grand possibilities to it. Why create divisions among the global community? It is a form of separation between races, classes, and ideologies that perhaps creates feuds among nations as we seem to feel that we cannot relate to one another.
Continuing to individualize the process of crossing borders, the Border Film Project gave five hundred people disposable cameras Minutemen and migrants to record their experiences. With images such as migrants walking and Minutemen on the lookout for illegal citizens crossing the border, these images have a “memorializing capacity as well” (28). As the country creates a sense of invisibility for migrants, these photos create a sense of true reality because they are direct representations of the events that happen in life along the border.
It is essential to give separate identities to those people who are courageous enough to attempt to enter this country. Although they are not legally admitted here, they risk their lives and reputations in forging that extensive journey across the long, hazardous journey. By robbing them of their individuality, we rob them of respect as a human being. Would you consider my parents as one of the ‘Other’? As the faceless, bodiless, mindless? Just another immigrant? These art and media projects allow my mother and father to gain their defining features once again. They now become human.

Information Terrorism

The author in “Border Hacks” differentiates between Web Activism and Hacking – which was classified as “information terrorism.” True, in some cases Web Activism can be harmless, and can be used to raise public awareness. But, as discussed in “Photoshop for Democracy,” activism, even in the form of parodies, photoshopped pictures, and other related “harmless” activities can cause great damage not only to political candidates but to larger groups as well. Some of these images are used as “terrorism” because, on the Internet, nothing and no one is really safe from un-filtered images, from controversial debated to outright lies. Just as Joseph Goebbels, a truly dark and sinister, but brilliant propaganda figure, once said, “a lie spoken a thousand times becomes the truth!” On the internet, just one YouTube video can become popular, “go viral,” as it is called. These will be copied not one thousand, not ten thousand, but hundreds of thousands of times, maybe even millions, as what happened to the now-famous Gary Brolsma video popularly called “The Numa Numa Guy.”

While a short clip of a teenager (Brolsma was 18 at the time) dancing to a Moldovan song may cause little alarm, the rate at which it spread across the internet (over 700 million views estimated by now, allegedly copied thousands of times to other websites) shows the power of the web to carry any information, including disinformation, inciting terror in the citizens of a nation, causing social disruption, and, possibly, rebellion.

One of the reasons for this is that people are basically willing to take what looks and sounds scary, frightening, out-of-bounds, and accept it as true. This is the same principle as that which dove hundreds of people to large-scale paranoia during the UFO-scares of the 50’s, thousands to protest everything from the Vietnam War to oppressive government control in the 60’s and 70’s, and still drives thousands of protestors today. Lies are easier to make attractive, they are, in a way, as Venus Flytraps to unsuspecting flies – they look very pretty, they are easily acceptable, no matter how illogical, and they are very often malicious on many levels.

Thus, Web Activism can and often is a very potent form of terrorism, especially in the societies where people easily believe in many things. One example is from 2008, when a YouTube user found a large number of black containers which reminded him of coffins and uploaded a somewhat long clip of walking around them and even inspecting one. A few weeks later, that very video became Russian News, with newscasters quite seriously claiming that America must be preparing for World War III, having allegedly made “millions of bio-degradable coffins.” News stories like this often appear in various Russian, European, and even U.S. publications, mostly about what happens in nations other than the one which published the paper. Thus, if one video was for a time a cause of serious dismay and un-comfort on a national level, then any political “activism” can be boosted to the level of a serious national security threat. And thus, should also be classified as potential information terrorism.

Copyright Law

Anthony Su- Week 14 Blog Post

First, I would like to discuss the distinction between a society based on raw material and one based on information. A society based on raw material kind of resembles a farm or a society that does not value education highly. On the other hand, a society based on information is highly intellectual, with technology and many ideas that should not be freely distributed. I think that copyright is certainly more applicable to a society based on information. For example, people can replicate music or movies more readily than something that is not intellectual. It is highly unlikely for someone to replicate a potato or a solid, physical material from a market and sell it. It is possible for someone to copy a farming method, but I don't see that as bad as breaking copyright law. The one who tries to copy the farming method does have to put in the work to produce a product. On the other hand, copying intellectual material is way worse because it is so easy to say, copy a song, without putting in much work. The person who initially came up with a song or work put in all the work or human labor already. Copyright is so much more of an issue in societies based on information. That is a reason why copyright isn't a big issue in the past; many societies were not intellectual or based on information.

Secondly, I think that Copyright is very important. People do have a right own their information. I totally agree with the humanitarian origin of copyright. To take someone's new, original idea away from that person is analogous to taking a part of that person's brain away. People do need the credit they deserve for a work. The time and effort someone spends on an intellectual work should be recognized. It is not right to break copyright laws. It is like plagiarism, which is highly not tolerated in many institutions of education these days. In this sense, patents should be supported and it is not wrong for someone to want to get rich off an innovative idea. That being said, the more steps needed in order for a work to be published, the worse the situation becomes. Publishers, or other people who authors/composers need to see before making their work final and out to the public, should not be legitimate working men. I am sure that publishers have to sign agreements before they look at an author's work, but it is still an unnecessary step in the process of making intellectual property and distributing it to the public. The extra step of handing a work to a publisher to have it printed takes extra time, and the author could publish his or her own work. This idea may be radical and against the law, but it is a suggestion I have. It would be nice to simplify society and lower the number of steps required to publish and distribute intellectual work. Without the publishers, the work of an author may be more pure and the probability of breaking Copyright laws can be reduced.

I would also like to discuss sausage factories. I liked comparing this to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle earlier today to show the horrific nature of producing meat. They are disgusting, but I find that there should be one reason why we should take pity on some members of society and respect the work they do. Even though the quality of labor may not be good, as seen by occasional fingers sticking out of meat loaves and hair in dishes, due to the unsanitary conditions of the factory, I feel that the producers are doing the best they can given the conditions of the working place. I feel that overall, our society should give more respect to people like these, even though this situation is less common in the world today. Without them, our world would be much different. It is just like we need material imported from China, our world would be much different without this trading partner we have. We cannot produce some material that China can produce. Even though the quality of some work is not good, we should still respect it for what it is. Same thing goes with copyright, we should respect authors and composers for working hard on their intellectual works.

Finally, I do agree with what's been said earlier about fear deterring certain people from coming up with very innovative ideas.

Animated News --- Now Kids Can Watch How Crimes Happen

*Before I begin, I would like to warn the audience that the subject of my post is not exactly something we’ve talked about in class or read for homework. But, seeing that this subject that I am about to discuss is a very interesting form of new media and that it somewhat relates to the issues we’ve studied, I feel obligated to share it with the class.

Animated News — Now You Can Watch The Crime Happen Like A Movie

I was just watching the news the other day when I came across a very interesting new-media topic— animated news. Recently, a Taiwanese news publication company, the Apple, has introduced animated recreations of crimes into its daily news program. At the company’s headquarter, hundreds of engineers work to turn materials gathered by field journalists into detailed 3-D animated movies. Bloodshed, live actions of robbery, shooting, rapes etc. you name it, “animated news” covers a wide range of social topics from gang violence and street fights to sexual assaults and domestic violence. And while the company allegedly claims that minors under eighteen years of age are not allowed to view the overtly graphic animations, kids can still download the animated news online and watch the clips either on the computer or on their cell phones. (*An example of a less-violent piece of animated news may be viewed on the following website if anyone is interested: http://www.xcar.com.cn/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=11018964 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEsIkpBSRpc ) Furious parents and educators are concerned that the realistic depictions of violence and inappropriate sexual contents would have negative influence on children. The Tai Pei government too, has imposed a daily fee of 500,000 yuan on the Apple Publication and has ordered the company to stop producing animated news. At the same time, media scholars also resist this “new news movement.” Instead of worrying about kids watching recreations of violent crimes, media scholars are more concerned about the change in the nature of news brought by its latest form(animated news).

“The journalists become scriptwriters and the engineers become directors. All there is to the ‘news’ are just imagined details. So the whole animated news is just fake news in reality,” says Taiwanese media scholar Fengjia Zhuang.

Aside from the concern over the negative impact on the nature of news brought by this animated news movement, there are two fundamental problems that cannot be overseen: violence and sexuality.

Let’s start with sexuality. This past week, we’ve talked about how sexuality is portrayed in video games. In Hot Date, Consalvo argues that the design of characters in video games reflect a traditional social belief that women are vulnerable princess who need to be saved by prince-charmings and that the most influence such video games can have on the player is that the games allow players to explore their identity (sexual-wise) playing as the main character (who is usually a guy). But in animated news, sexuality is a much more dangerous component of the medium. The problem is no longer who is playing prince charming; the problem now is how will guys treat women watching rape or other sexual violence recreations growing up. Similarly, will girls thus assume a weak, victimized image?

Secondly, there is the concern over kids' exposure to violence via new media. Here is something to think about: if we do not want expose kids to violent contents, then why do we produce all sorts of media with violent contents in the first place? In a way, the fault is actually on the adults. According to Baidu's Encyclopedia on animated news, the animated news movement is actually driven by the market for sex and violence. If that sentence does not make sense, think of it this way: since the daily news program is converted to animated news which primarily covers news on violent, sexual crimes and even suicides, the entire news spectrum is then converted to violent and sexual contents. Now you may ask why there is this conversion from traditional news to animated news. More specifically, you should ask why such conversion is necessary or unavoidable. The answer is actually quite simple—because sex and violence sells. Remember that article we read earlier on violent video games and kids? The author of that article argues that adults are more afraid of children mastering technologies better than adults do than they are afraid of kids being exposed to violence via video games. But perhaps what adults should really be afraid of is the consequence of their subconscious (or is it?) preference for sex and violence. The entertainment industry will not stop selling sex and violence unless there is no market for it. And until then, good luck to the parents and educators who strive to keep children safe from media contents inappropriate for the kids’ age.

Huiling P.

No Longer Lessig's "Free Culture"

I went ahead and wrote about Lawrence Lessig's piece on Free Culture for this week's blog post. I hope this is acceptable.

The dramatic shift from a ‘“free culture’” as described by Lawrence Lessig to one dominated by fear, in which everyone is afraid of being sued for accidentally ‘copying’ another’s patented material in their artworks/inventions, reveals a flaw in today’s definition of piracy. Lessig’s initial example of how the ‘who owns what?’ issue (in which the Causby’s argued the Wright brother’s airplanes were trespassing on their airspace, causing their chickens to die) was resolved in favor of the airplane creators. However, it's clear that those who violate some established societal norms with their creativity are increasingly on the receiving end of punishment, which clearly points to the deterioration of our “free culture”.

As mentioned by Lessig in his later chapters, the world-famous character Mickey Mouse was actually copied from the show Steamboat Bill Jr. Walt Disney, fascinated by the success of the film, created a direct parody of it in what was later called ‘Steamboat Willie.’ As this film became a success, Disney reaped profits off of more tales he didn’t create - reinventing the stories from the Brother’s Grimm with happy endings; today’s disney classics. Ironically, the copyright for Mickey Mouse and his friends is still enforced today. Every 20 or so years when the copyright is about to expire, Walt Disney lobbies Congress to lengthen the number of years a character can be copyrighted. Mickey Mouse is now over 80 years old! Corporate greed dominates a culture to the extend that one cannot recreate the world’s most beloved character without facing penalties for copyright infringement.

Other horror stories exist, such as copyrights on songs that are now integral to our culture, including “Happy Birthday to You”. Piracy seems to harm all aspects of creativity- one can not create a song without being sued for ‘copying’ a series of chords (as Coldplay was sued for Viva la Vida), one cannot invent more efficient equipment without being smothered by a dominant company (as Armstrong was nailed by the RCA for inventing FM radio), one cannot create characters in a book without being questioned (J.K. Rowling was sued for Harry Potter). It appears that the idea of ‘piracy’ has been used too much to stifle creativity; it has become a misnomer in todays society.

You've got to be kidding me

I couldn't not post this story...many of you may have already seen or heard about it, but it was news to me.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/man-marries-a-videogame/1376577

Comments?

Mia Consalvo – Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances

In this chapter, Consalvo talks about The Sims which is a game that allows the user to create an online community. Individuals can be made be certain features and personalities such as criminal or school age kid. From there families can be made and then neighborhoods and so on. The game allows relationships to be made such as friendships, dating relationships, and marriage relationships. Heterosexual couples can choose or plan to have a baby while homosexual couples cannot. This is mostly in part to sexuality issues. The creators of the game may have supported domestic partnerships but been against homosexual marriage. So here heterosexual has become the default setting as that’s what a character will be unless specified.

When creating new characters, there are a variety of features and appearances that are used to put together a new individual. Race is a big factor of a new character as skin tones are only given in so many tones and usually there is a maximum dark skin tone that isn’t really all that dark. The default Sims that first pops up is a light-complexioned, middle-aged male. This relates to the idea that this is the norm in American society and all other skin tones and gender have to initially start from it and kind of see it as its maker or founder. The limited range of body types shows that people are expected to fall under certain umbrella sizes. Until recently, there was only one large Sims that was significantly overweight.

The Sims allows for a neighborhood to be built and from there on, society grows and changes as a real one would. Fairy tales can be created from this game as characters can be controlled and whatever the user wants to happen can happen. Society is lost in having the perfect relationship or the perfect wedding when sometimes complete perfection can be outright scary. Mistakes are part of being human as we learn from our mistakes and grow with experience. “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” –Alexander Pope.


Gagan Kular =]

Sexuality in Video Games

In my blog post I will address character identification and the erotic triangle as mentioned by Mia Consalvo in “Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances: Studying Sexuality in Video Games”.

I agree with Mia and Stephen Poole when they argue that players identify with their characters. Their arguments of player- character identification differ in terms of how the character is drawn and/or portrayed. From Mia’s perspective by having characters such as Zidane drawn with the bare minimum of details, players are presented with a better opportunity to imagine themselves as the character. This identification allows players to imagine the characters personality, actions, and how they relate to other characters. From Poole’s perspective players are more likely to identify with realistic characters than with abstract ones. Based on my limited experience of playing video games, my perspective of player-character identification is similar to Poole’s. When I play Pac-man or any other game where the characters are just shapes with smiley faces, I do not feel bad when they die because I think about the additional lives that they have. Now when I use realistic characters and have been able to grow attached to them, I feel so bad when they die because I think that the characters depended on me and I just let them down. Regardless of how a character is drawn, players will identify with them to varying degrees.

The erotic triangle involves two men who have homosocial feelings towards one another that are displaced onto a woman, who “serves as a placeholder for their heterosexuality”. Examples of the erotic triangle appear in male-buddy action movies such as Superbad, Wedding Crashers, and even Shrek. I have never thought much of the male- buddy relationship as being part of an erotic triangle. In my opinion, the men are really good friends who can identify with the other as a brother. It’s strange that it’s “normal” for girls to be best friends but out of place for guys to be best friends. The latter statement has been recently addressed by the newly created term “bromance”. Society is slowly accepting these intense male friendships.

Hot Dates, etc.

So video games tend to be exactly how "traditional society" thinks about the world. Mia Consalvo brings up a good point about video games and the lack of homosexuality. She uses both The Sims and Final Fantasy 9 as her examples of video games and either their lack of homosexuality or the lack of going all the way. The Sims incorporates gays but it does not allow them to marry. However, this list is not exhaustive. I could probably list all of the video games I have, at least the ones that regard a relationship, and each one has nothing to do with homosexuals. Grand Theft Auto would be another good example. The player can, if he or she so chooses, to go on dates and after the date, the user may be invited into the house for some "Hot Coffee". Either way, all these dates are with women. The user never really has a choice to go out with a guy. (I do know that in GTA IV that there is a dating website and I remember there being gay men on it, but I never experimented with dating them so it is possible you could date other men in GTA IV) However, Consalvo's point remains true, that most video games do not center around a homosexual relationship.

Another point that Consalvo brings up is the love triangle between two men and a woman. I did not think of this in class, but another good movie example of this triangle could be Star Wars. Luke Skywalker, the main character, and Han Solo end up being pretty good friends throughout the series. However, they both inadvertently end up indirectly fighting over Princess Leia. George Lucas relieves this tension by revealing in the end that Princess Leia is, in fact, Luke's sister. There are also many other cases of movies where the main character and his good/best friend end up fighting over a girl between them. These movies usually end with one agreeing to let the other have her or it turning out to be that neither really wants her. They then go back to being good friends and everyone lives happily ever after. The usual story book ending by Hollywood.

So in retrospect, Consalvo brings up the points that show our society is still afraid to admit gays into open media. Apart from Broke Back Mountain, I can not really think of any widely popular movies that featured such a famous gay scene. And in most video games homosexuality is completely avoided, probably for several reasons. One, the game creators may be against homosexuality. Or two, they may be afraid that some people would not buy their game if it was advertised for having homosexuality in it. It is probably a combination of the two, especially considering marketing is what drives most video games to huge sales. In conclusion, I think our society is too afraid to openly address gays and so it will continue to be an unspoken trait for years to come.

High Tech or High Risk: Moral Panics about Girls Online

High Tech or High Risk:Moral Panics about Girls Online

“When your children are at home you think they are safe. But are they? What about the internet? Have you taught them how to protect themselves online?”

To a certain extend I agree with this quote because the internet is not very safe when people do not use the internet wisely. This world is filled with sexual predators however, these predators are not just online. “Teens are also at risk in the mall, walking home from school, and spending a vacation with distant relatives.” Parents need to understand the internet is a very helpful tool that helps enhance their children’s education. There is a common misconception about who the actual sexual perpetrator is. People believe that strangers are the perpetrators of child sexual abuse when in fact family members and friends are still the most frequent perpetrators.

While I was reading, I could not help but think about the little four year old boy from my hometown of Mendota, Ca who was raped and killed by his fourteen year old neighbor. This heartbreaking tragedy took place a day before Halloween. The little boy wondered out into his home’s driveway and the teen lured the little boy into his house by telling little Alex that he had candy for him. Then he raped and killed the helpless child. The mother went looking for her child and after an hour that Alex went missing, the fourteen year old boy had already killed him. Now you might ask yourself, I did she mention this story. I mention this story because parents should be more aware of their children’s surroundings that what they do on the internet. There are bad people everywhere not just online.

On another note, women have been perceived as incompetent in the technological world.

In Wired Love, the women portrayed in these narratives were naïve and incapable in the face of technical advances, and when they made forays into the world of the telegraph they ended up needing to be rescued, to be protected from technology, in sum.

Nowadays, women can do what ever they please whenever they want and however they want. We do not need men to protect us or to rescue us from our mistakes. We learn from our mistakes and we keep moving forward in life with our head held high. There has been too much sexism in our society that now is the time to fight back and show the world what we are made of. May I remind people about the first computers. The first computers were women! Women were the quickest to pick up the technical skills that were needed. Sorry for the tone, but I think that people need to stop thinking that women always need men to help them because we are unable to succeed without help.

Claudia A.

Class Canceled WEDNESDAY 11/18

Please check your email for schedule updates. We will not have class this Wednesday in support of the student and faculty strike; however, we will meet on Friday in part to discuss the current issues facing the university as well as the Cramer and Cassell.

On November 18^th and 19^th, the Regents of the UC will be meeting to vote on another round of student fee increases.

What can you do to show the UC Administration and the State of California that we will not tolerate another increase?

• Visit ucstrike.com

Read the strike call, and sign your name! More than 1,000 members of the UC community—undergraduates, graduate students, staff and faculty—have already signed. You can also learn more about the budget cuts and the protests through the “Links” section of that website.

• Come to campus on November 18^th and join the strike!

Go the rally at Sproul Plaza at noon. Not going to classes is not enough, the strike will only be effective if our numbers are visible. There will also be picket lines on the 18^th and 19^th, join them! Check the ucstrike.com website for more information

• Talk to your friends.

There are thousands of undergraduates at Berkeley, and many people haven’t heard about the strike yet. It’s up to us to spread the word however we can. You can join the “UC Student, Worker, Faculty Strike” and the “System-wide Strike” events on Facebook. You can also become a fan of the “ucstrike.com” page, and invite all your friends to do the same! Set your status to say that you support the strike, this is a great way to get other Berkeley students aware of the strike.

• Talk to your classmates in other classes and talk to your instructors!

If a majority of students in a class support the strike, you can petition your instructor to cancel class. Even instructors who support the strike already will appreciate this show of solidarity. If you talk to an instructor, ask them to sign the “Strike Solidarity Pledge” on ucstrike.com

Identity Cross Dressing

Drawing on Lisa Nakamura’s “Head-Hunting on the Internet: Identity Tourism, Avatars, And Racial Passing in Textual and Graphic Chat Spaces”, I am going to address identity and stereotypes on the internet.

Lisa Nakamura begins the chapter by liking the internet to a theater, an analogy that I agree with. There are many performers on a stage. These actors and actresses, who are of various ethnicities, ages, and heights, are able to portray any character the director requires thanks to make up artists, costumes, and the facial expressions, accents, and behavior of the actors themselves. When you’re watching a play or musical, such as The Lion King, you forget that the animals prancing across the stage are people. Being on the internet is very similar because you can describe yourself in any way and as long as your actions reflect that of your description, people will believe you.

Before images were available online, usernames reflected what a person wanted others to think of them. Just by reading someone’s description, I argue that you can tell whether or not the person you are talking to is what he/she claims they are in terms of race. Using the example mentioned in the chapter about the young Japanese girl who devotes “her life to perfecting the tea ceremony and mastering the art of lovemaking”, it is obvious that the user is definitely not a young Japanese girl. The description draws upon the user’s inner desires and imagination of what a Japanese girl should be in terms of appearance and talents.

Users use stereotypes they have heard from the radio, seen on the television, or heard from others. Like most stereotypes, the descriptions are not all truth and are offensive. For example, a clip from Family Guy has the family going to Chinatown and every Asian person the dad sees, he shouts “Oh, Jackie Chan!”. The clip ends with an Asian man going up to the family and shouting “Oh, Ethan Hawke!”. This reflects the stereotype that people of a certain ethnicity look the same. With many people using stereotypes in their descriptions, others who read the descriptions will believe that it is true. We can become a less ignorant society by getting rid of stereotypes by not using them in our descriptions.