Research Blog Part 14 (Works Cited)

O'Brien, Susie, and Imre Szeman. Popular Culture: a User's Guide. Toronto: Nelson Education,

            2009. Print.

Webkinz. Web. 19 Dec. 2010.

<http://www.webkinz.com/>

Patera, Marianne, Steve Draper, and Martin Naef. "Exploring Magic Cottage: a virtual reality environment for stimulating children's imaginative writing." Interactive Learning Environments. Dec2008, Vol. 16 Issue 3, p245-263, 19p, 3 Color Photographs, 3 Charts, 2 Graphs. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Dec. 2010.

Herold, David Kurt. "Mediating Media Studies-Stimulating critical awarenessin a virtual environment." Computers and Education. Apr2010, Vol. 54 Issue 3, p791-798, 8p. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Dec. 2010.

Hayles, N. Katherine. "Stimulating Narratives-What virtual creatures can teach us." Critical Inquiry. Autumn99, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p1, 26p, 5 Black and White Photographs. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Dec. 2010.

 

 

Research Blog #13

Exploring Magic Cottage:a virtual reality environment for stimulating children's imaginative writing.
 

Authors: Patera, Marianne

Draper, Steve
Naef, Martin

Source:

Interactive Learning Environments; Dec2008, Vol. 16 Issue 3, p245-263, 19p, 3 Color Photographs, 3 Charts, 2 Graphs

Document Type: Article

To summarize this article I would say its about virtual reality in children and their imagination and creativity that can come from bieng a part of virtual reality. The artice also discusses children's composition and motivation in language arts.  It's about allowing children into virtual environments and how it helps with their imaginative writing. The article is about a study that investigated if an interactive virtual activity would increase motivation and stimulate childrens imagination in a writing task.

Reading Blog #10 Member Response

I posted on Eric & Dustin's blogs.

Activity 10.2 (Reading Blog #10)

 Vagabonds                                   
 Someones who shiftless
 Someone who moves around or wanders aimlessly.
 Drifter

Tourists- are people who are rich and can afford to visit the whole world.

They're a mixture of both from both worlds. Race and gender play a part in this to a certain extent. Not all one race is wealthy enough to be tourists. I believe that race and gender don't play a major role in mobility. There are many people in the world from different races, gender and backgrounds that have the ability to be a tourist. Some people get born into wealthiness and others get lucky enough to achieve it on their own. But most lets say doctor's are wealthy but are not considered a tourist. They don't just get up and leave to travel the world, because if they did they wouldn't continue to make money.

These categories are shifting and changing because the way the world is changing with the economy. People now a days are not willing to spend money freely to travel all over the world. People are bieng smart with their money and saving it and bieng percaucious. "For the vast majority of people in the world, however, mobility is greatly limited-and, when movement does become a necessity, it is usually due to terrible economic, natural, or political circumstances that have generated refudee crises around the world." O'brien page 338.  People become comftorable in their homes and usually don't want to move all around. Americans enjoy having stability in their lives and homes.

2nd Member Response for Reading Blog #9

I posted on Amanda Schuester and Shelby.

Reading Blog #9

Chapter 9 is about space and how it's utilized. So many stores, restaurants, fast food and so forth and so on. In Rossford or Perrysburg right on Route 20 there used to be a few houses but mostly cornfields. Now companies have decided to build like crazy out there. There is almost every fast food place you could imagine on that road. There is walmart, meijers, kohls, krogers and target. Besides that there are also many sit down restaurants also. It seems to me once one place starts building everyone just follows in thier footsteps. There is like 2 of every kind of store. What I find surprising is that some of the stores have only made it a few months before closing down.

The companies main goal is to have consumerism. Consumerism is the name for the complex set of dominant values and practices produced by and arising from life in a consumer society: a historically unique form of society in which consumption plays an important, if not central role.

I believe private space is more important than public space. I enjoy having private space, allowing us to go to the park. The park is a great place to go and have a picnic or enjoy spending time with my children and family. Public places are also a necessity to get grocies or just go enjoy a day of shopping. A public swimming pool is also considered a private place. I find it strange that back before people had bathrooms in their homes the poor were considered smelly and people viewed them as just using the pools to get clean. Some poor people were not even allowed to use the pool. I also agree that pools do bring a certain type of intimacy for all kinds of people. People stand and swim with one another in hardly any clothing. I've never really thought about it that way but it's very true. Many of the places that are considered private could also be considered a private place. I believe we should find more ways to have more private areas instead of everyone bieng so worried about public places.

2 Menber responses for reading blog #8

I responded on Andrew Poland and Eric's blog

Research Blog Part 12

After carefully reading about subcultures I have come to the conclusion that my choice for the final project, webkinz is not a subculture. Subcultures are groups of people who have something in common. Webkinz on line is a group of children who all enjoy playing with there webkinz and talking to others who feel the same way as they do. So the people who use the webkinz site have something in common, but they don't deviate social norms. These children on this website are not participating in anything that society as a whole would reject or treat them suspiciously for. The thing is that most commonly subcultures are groups or communities that deviate or differ from exsisting social norms. Most subcultures exsist "underground", outside of the mainstream of society, or in out of the way places they can call their own. Subcultures also need space and believe it's an essential component, they need space to meet, to act, to form a community and to forge common bonds. The webkinz site isn't tring to be underground, if anything there trying to get more people to become part of the site. There site is made for anybody, not just for people who have the same or similar beliefs. Webkinz are made for anyone who will purchase them, not just people who have certain opinions or views. I feel that webkinz is just a product bieng sold to as many consumers as possible. Webkinz are just a manufacturer trying to make money off children and thier parents. Ganz the company who manufactures webkinz is simply trying to sell thier product. By having this website it just makes it more accessible for consumers to purchase products and it's just another way to suck children in to make them feel that they belong there.

Reading Blog #8

This is my example of counterculture. Counterculture are groups that express antagonism toward the exsisting social and political order, and propose alternative ways of organizing society. This term is most commonly used to refer to the alternative politics expressed by a variety of groups in the 1960's. Counterculture describes groups that challenge and contradict the "common sense" of everyday life with the aim of creating a better society. Countercultures are a type of subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of larger society (this is argueable). Hippies from the 60's are a kind of counterculture, they were groups of young people that adopt an unconventional lifestyle as an alternative to the perceived hypocrisy and inequity of the dominant cultural norm. In the 1960s the counter-culture was characterized by casual clothing and hair styles, rock and roll music, sexual freedom, experimentation with drugs, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Some hippies formed communes to live as far outside of the established system as possible.

A subculture describes a group or communities that deviate or differ from exsisting social norms. Typically subcultures are conceived as groups of individuals who come together around shared practices and ideas that are rejected or treated with suspicion by official, mainstream culture. Subcultures creatively express there dissatisfaction with social norms and practices, they challenge and modify what counts as normal, everyday life. I chose the gay pride rainbow as my example of a subculture. Gays/bisexuals are people who differ from what society considers normal. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) subculture are people who come together and share similar ideas that society rejects. These people challenge mainstream societys "norms".
A subculture is a set of people with distinct sets of behavior and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. Where as countercultures are a type of subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of a larger society.

Research Blog 11

I have not yet chatted on the webkinz chat. I am planning on it tomorrow. By the time I got home from school today it was to late. But the chat on webkinz is called Kinzchat or Kinzchat Plus. They have a preconstructed chatting system they call Kinzchat.While using this the children can only use phrases that the Ganz site has registered in there for them to pick from. There is no actual typing allowed from the computer.

In Kinzchat plus it allows children to type there own phrases but it monitors what information is bieng typed. If the words the child is typing turn colors the website will automatically stop the message from bieng sent. Kinzchat Plus uses word and phrase filtering to make sure there is no innapropriate messages or information given out while on line.

Depending on your childs age you may or may not allow this on there site while bieng online. It's a choice the parent gets to set and make for the child. This is a good system to monitor what is bieng sent while your child is playing on webkinz world.

Reading Blog 7 ~ Member Response~

I posted on Dustin and Andrew Polands blogs.

Reading Blog #7

The movie Bamboozled has orientalism in it. Pierre viewed African Americans in a different view then the CEO of CNS. This movie stereotypes African Americans as bieng unworthy. Bamboozled's show portrays the African American culture and people as only bieng able to be be slaves and dance and sing. The entertainment industry takes people in and spit them out. The entertainment industry doesn't care how people feel, or how they represent people. It's entertainment, it's supposed to be entertaining. Pierre never thought that his idea for Mantan and Sleep and Eat would be accepted because it was so stereotypical. Mantan and Sleep and Eat were viewed by others as sick and terrible when the show first came out. Then followers of the show began to enjoy it and viewed the show as good.

Representation was used in Bamboozled. Bamboozled represented the African American race as stupid. Even though Mantan and Sleep and Eat was a show and made up, it still makes this race look bad. Mantan and Sleep and Eat made the race look bad because even after realizing what the show was they continued to do the show anyway. But after a while they both realized they were being used and embarrassed by the show. They were tired of bieng represented unfairly.

Research Blog Part 10

My research site, webkinz.com is all aout identity. Children all over know what the "W" on the foot of an animal means that it's a webkinz. As soon as my daughter sees that "W" she knows that the person who has that stuffed animal share a similar identity. They both are interested in webkinz. Webkinz also want you to know all you have to do is register with their website and every animal you buy, which in my daughters mind she is the animal while online, they have a home and belong with the other furry friends. Every webkinz is special there. Every webkinz recieves a name chosen by you and a birth certificate.

You form different relationships with each animal. The animals have to be cared for and loved, even taken to the vet. As my daughter dresses and accessorieses with her animal she feels that each one likes different things and enjoys different games. I understand that children have a vivid imaggination but thats who webkinz are geares for. It indentifies with what the children want and gives parental controls and things parents want for safety on the website. Every webkinz online has there on role in the family/game. They each have there own belonging and expectations that children make for them and the website allows them to fantasize a little more.

Webkinz are a good form of interpellation. Interpellaton is when "individuals are compelled, through a mix of individual psychological and social imperatives, to identify with social roles offered them", accoring to Althusser. Children playing with webkinz is a social role that is offered to them when they get the webkinz. The children get to play on line and can play with thier friends or by themselves with these animals. My daughter loves every webkinz she has, her friends all love webkinz also, it's like a competition of who has more and which was you have.

Reading Blog Part 6 1st & 2nd member response

I posted on Eric's blog page for my first member response for reading blog part 6.
I posted on Andrew Poland for my 2nd member response.
So I accidently posted my 1st member response on Erics research blog Part #9, so I reposted on the Reading Blog Part 6 but it was just today because I just figured it out. So it's going to look like its late but if you check his research blog 9 you will see it was posted on the correct date. Sorry!

Research Blog Part 9

Interpellation corresponds with my research site because it brings many different children together all over the world. So many children, generally younger girls , love webkinz and when a child sees another child with a webkinz they automatically have some kind of comfort zone. They already know they have something in common.  Most generally if you have a webkinz animal, then you have a account on the webkinz site. Which allows you to register your animals and play with them online. The website sets goal for you by making you have to feed them and take them to the vet and much more. It also sets goals for the children and the parents to get more webkinz by offering free accessories and certificates of achievement for your child and pet when you reach a certain number of pets registered to your account online. I know at like 30 pets my daughter got the certificate and some accessories for her pet.

Having a webkinz doll identifies your child to other children, identifying what they like and a tiny part of who they are. Children who like webkinz are in their own little subculture. Some of these children in this subculture don't just have one or two of these webkinz, they have 50 or more. Maybe even the whole collecton.Webkinz make pleasure for many children everyday.

Reading Blog #6

The educational institutions I have attend have worked to interpellate me into particular roles as a student and members of society by preparing me for other classes and possible employment perspectives and much more. Every class I take prepares me or goes over something I have already learned in a  previous class. Owens is a place that broadens students horizens. Some classes that you take are easy A's, but not to suck up, our teacher deffinetly makes you think outside the box.  By attending college your are acheiving goals for yourself and you may be setting future goals, by getting your associates degree now and then transferring to a four year college and getting a bachelor's degree. School also helps to interpellate students into society by teaching them responsibilities, respect and manners that some may not be to familiar with. Beyond that it's giving students an education, which you need in society.

By the proffessor stand or sit at the front of the room is just another sign of respect. The professor can make eye contact with everyone and moniter what kind of facial expressions or whatever else the students are doing. By monitoring what the students are doing the teachers can determine who is listening to ear buds, sleeping, taking notes, texting or whatever it may be and set appropriate goals for the proper students. I feel that by having the teacher/proffessor in the front of the class it makes them aware of everything that is going on in the classroom.

2nd member response for Reading Blog 5

I posted on Samantha Thompson

1st member response for reading blog 5

I posted on amanda schusters blog.

Reading Blog #5

The images or logos I cme up with are a mixture of abstarct and real objects. The apple is a real object that represents apple ipods, computers and much more. Tide, Mcdonalds and aeropostale are abstract items. They don't represent a real object, but just by glancing at them everyone is familar with what they represent. The mcdonalds logo is all over the place. You can find a mcdonalds sign anywhere you go, even if you are traveling outside of the country. There are mcdonalds all over the world. The owners of mcdonalds put these signs in convienent places to inform consumers that there is a restaurant readily avaialable to serve you and your family. The tide logo is seen usually in grocery stores, but you will see it on the television in advertisements. Or in coupons in the weekly paper.Aeropostale isnt a logo you see quite as frequently as the rest of the logos I used. Its mostly advertised by shoppers of the store. I rarely see the aeropostale logo anywhere, besides on peoples clothing. The apple logo is all over the place. It's a huge company that advertises on television, the internet and in papers. Its a common logo that as a consumer I am used to seeing. Apple has so many different items to offer to consumers they could advertse all day long. Any person in charge of placing logos/ signs for there company wants to put them in a spot where its easy for consumers to see, where the area is travelled frequently and close by to a location that has the items the company is sellling. Most of the logos I chose are bieng used by teenagers and people in the age of 12-35. Younger people are interested in aeropostale and the products apple has to offer. Tide is going to be used by anyone who does laundry and who can afford it, it's a little pricey. Mcdonalds is loved by all, but especially children. Kids love to visit mcdonalds and get there happy meal with the exciting toy inside of it. Although adults also enjoy mcdonalds, it gets them out of cooking for the night. The main goal for all of these companys is to get people to come in and continue to keep coming back. By offering sales, coupons, good deals or toys, every consumer likes to get a break somehow, and thats how these places get you to come back again and again.

Research Blog Part 8

Possible subcultures for final paper:
Webkinz
Gamers
Big Brother
Stoners
Preps/different clicks
Music subcultures, like rockers
Religious subculture
Youth/Teenage subculture
Otherkin
Harry Potter
Inmate subculture
Trekkies
Deadheads
Gleeks

2nd Member response

I posted on samantha thompson

Memner response for reading blog 4

I commented on Ashley

Reading Blog #4

The companys website that really blew me away as a consumer is Disneys homepage. http://disney.go.com/index
This website has everything you could ever possibly want. You can watch movies, listen to music, play games, shop,television and if you want to plan a trip there you can even do that. There are so many people that love Disney, adults and children both are extremely fond of it. Its a good way for me and my daughter to sit down together and watch a movie or watch the disney channel(since we don't have cable). We even sit down and look at the website just so my daughter can add a few more things to her wish list.

The website is user friendly, people of all ages can use it. My 6 year old can run the site without a problem. It has so many activities on it, you could stay busy for hours and hours easily. Many companys websites you can only do just a couple general functions on them, so there not really that useful or very interesting. Since the website does have so many different features to it,  it's really easy for a consumer to shop on their site.

Research Blog Part 7

The webkinz site is like it's own little world and they run the show. Webkinz are easily accessible, you can find them almost anywhere you go, even down to littlest pharmacy in Pemberville, Ohio. All you have to do is purchase this small stuffed animal that has a code attached to it on a piece of paper. You then have a cute little stuffed animal with a webkinz stamp on its foot. Then you will want to go to the website and punch your code in and your animal pops up on the screen. The website is extremely attractive for children. Its bright colored and just looks so fun and children can play all kinds of games, coloring or take care of your webkinz. The webkinz animals can go to the doctors, eat, play and participate in many different activities. We counted all of my daughters webkinz on the site and she has 28, the crazy thing is thats not even all of the webkinz we have at our house.

The companys expectations are set by the consumers. How happy the consumer is with the prices, product and much more can be determined by how much of the product is sold. Also by keeping track of information from thier website. Things such as how many of the products are bieng registered on line. There are ways for customers to relay informaton to the company to leave comments or concerns on line and by telephone. By watching what kind things kids are participating in while bieng on line. Plus it's easy for them to see how many repeat customers they have by looking at how many webkinz each account has. The more webkinz you register on the website, you then begin to get different certificates and little gifts for your pets on your world from webkinz world. Which to a parent doesn't seem like much of a deal at all, but the children love it. To them it's more accessories or toys, or whatever it may be for the pet. That then makes the parent happy to see their child happy and enjoying life. So you best believe if the child wants more webkinz, the parent will buy again to make their child happy and content.

Research Blog Part VI

The webkinz site represents themselves to their audience by showing a lot of color, fun and excitement. When looking at the homepage to the website it is bright, and attractive for young children. It makes me want to start playing games and have fun. The homepage changes frequently. Today it has some hamsters that are a new toy for children. They look really cute and fun, makes me want to start shopping. It looks like a bunch of hamsters at a carnival or fair. Some have hard hats on and look like they could be hard at work.

The site represents themselves to their cohorts by having fun. The webkinz world is about attracting children to the site. The site allows children to put the webkinz they purchase on their own world and take care of them and play with them. The children on this site can admit their webkinz to the veternarian, feed them, dress them, get accessories for their pets and so much more. There are many games, coloring and now hamsters that are in the webkinz rooms. Parents are even attracted to this site, they can monitor their childs use and whats going on in the site. Children can also hang out with friends that have webkinz sites.

Visitors who may randomly at the webkinz site will see a representation of fun but also of marketing. Webkinz world is a great site that can give good, clean entertainment to children but it also is a very good site to sell more webkinz to the children who visit the site. It's very accessible to see every webkinz ever made on this site and how to locate where to purchase them. there is a different webkinz chosen every month for the webkinz of the month. The site represents so much bright, fun colors with a lot of fun entertainment and marketing.

2nd member response for activity 3.2

I postes on Eric and Andrew Polands blog for my second activity 3.2 response

Research Blog #5

http://www.webkinz.com/
The webkinz home page shows a colorful, fun and exciting place to play and shop. It has a lot of ways that attract children to its site. Its media at its best. By having all these exciting fun things for children to look at and want there parents to buy for them. There are games kids can play and when you purchase any webkinz you receive a code to punch into their page and then you get to play and take care of your animal on line. The webkinz website seems like a great place to allow your child play on, but all it is really doing is allowing your child to see many different webkinz that they want. They make it seem like it's supposed to be an educational type of site. I don't believe that it is really that kind of a website.

By giving the codes on every webkinz stuffed animal that you purchase is a easy way to get children acquainted with the website. The website is so easy punch in your code and you have an animal in a house that you have to take care of, dress, feed and many other things. There are so many different things to do on this website but if your not careful it may cost the parents money. It seems like a simple site for children to enjoy, but it seems to me that it is fun for kids and easy for them to operate. But what I really feel is that the colorful, exciting site is an easy way for children to make a want list for their parents. Its a target for children to have their parents spend more money on the website and in stores. So the colorful site for children is really a site to try and get people to spend more money. It's a huge trap to get people to spend more money.

Who I posted on for activity 3.2

I posted on Devins and Jakes pop culture blog

Activity 3.2

These shows are informative shows with an interesting twist. The show pulls in different kinds of viewers. It's not just another boring news cast full of disappointing information. It keeps you interested in it by adding laughter and making it funny. The show pulls in all kinds of different viewers and still gives you the important information thats going on in regular news casts. The similarities I see between shows like The Daily Show and a regular news broadcast is that these shows are still giving you informative information that is going on around the world. Plus the show is set up like a newcast. Both a newscast and The Daily Show is highliting important events around th world. The differences I see are that The Daily Show gets the important information you need but does it in a happier dialogue. Regular newcasts seem to get more depressing to watch by the day. Where this show is trying to bring in all different kinds of viewers to watch. Where most regular newscasts are generally set up for older viewers who are just looking for the regular boring information. I feel they're trying to instill a new way for young viewers to become interested in informative news.

Research Blog #3

I will be researching the teens and texting subculture.

Research Blog #2

I think I will be doing my research project on teens and texting. I chose this subculture because I find it extremely interesting how teenagers now a days text so much and rarely do they ever pick up the phone and make an actual telephone call. My teenage girl at home sends somewhere around 50,000 texts a month. It's crazy! And what is she texting that she couldn't just come out and say to someone?
I expect to find more information about why teenagers have this habit of texting. I do have some experience with this subjuct. I have a 14 year old girl in my house who I believe is addicting to texting. Also I am the one who pays the cell phone bill so I look every month and see the total amount of texts and minutes used on her phone. I'm not exactly sure what kinds of problems I may run into. I have a feelimg I may find out more information about what is bieng said on these so important text messages.

Reading blog #2 (2nd member response)

I posted on the other Sarah, Samantha Thompson and whoever's blog says whats new with pop culture

Whose blog I posted on for hegemony

Foe hegemony I posted on Devin's and Jlong's blogs.

Hegemony

China is a example of hegemony. China controls Tibet. In 1910 china invaded Tibet and took control. The Dalai Lama then left the country. Tibet was then considered free of China after the forces left to fight in the Chinese Resolution. Tibet is know called Xixang and is still considered to be with China. China is trying to take over the population there and make the original population considered foreigners. Many years ago China was in control of Tibet and then they lost it, but regained it again. China took control over them because Tibet is weaker. They are still trying to negotiate, which is a part of hegemony.

Hegemony

In the United States people who are wealthy have hegemony when it comes to tax laws. They have a lot of control over politicians because someone has to make monetary contributions for the politicians campaigns. So once the politicians win and get into office they vote for tax laws that favor the rich. So the rich and wealthy will then continue to support them by giving more financial contributions. It's a viscous circle that seems like it will never end. Money makes the world go around and it sure seems like the more you have the better off you are.

Hegemony

Adolf Hitler was an elected communist that lead the Nazi nation in the war against the Jews. People believed in him and followed his lead willingly. He had people under the impression that his way was the correct way. Many people may have done things to the Jews that they might have not done if it wasn't for his influence and beliefs. He was very good about persuading people to think just like him and to act how he did without forcefully making them.

Sub Culture (Research)

• Webkinz
• Trekkie
• Swinging
• Skater
• Preppy
• Punk
• Hacker
• Bikers
• Gamers
• Skinhead

Mass Culture

Mass culture is produced for an unexpected and unaware audience that is conveyed electronically through the media. The goal is to express the message being sent to the largest amount of people to secure the most profit possible. Mass media is expressed mostly by television and radio. By having mass culture you are spreading the important information to as many as possible to get them interested to ensure sales. By doing this you want to be creative and bold to suck in as many as you can. Mass culture is looking for a disparate audience, anyone who is willing to listen. Unlike folk culture where the information is translated by oral communication from one person to another. There are times when things start out as folk culture and turn into mass media.

Mass Culture

                                                            

Consumption

Having a cup or cups of coffee is a normal behavior for many people every day. Finding coffee is a simple task now a days. Restaurants, gas stations, even while sitting in a repair shop getting your vehicle worked on. Try going to a gas station and asking for some marijuana? That wont happen, marijuana is illegal and even having it in your possession will cause you to go to jail. Coffee, alcohol and marijuana are all drugs. Coffee is considered a stimulant and is believed to help you with productivity. Whereas marijuana is related to relaxation. Surprisingly to some people consuming coffee/caffinated beverages can have negative effects on you. U.S. researchers gave spiders caffeine and marijuana and determined the results by the way they spun there web. They discovered that when the spiders were under the influence of caffeine it had much more of a severe effect and the web was completely abnormal and looked nothing like the normal web. The web spun when the spiders were under the influence of marijuana was slightly abnormal but looked very similar to the normal web. Our society accepts that people drink coffee, so they have a higher value for productivity then relaxation. How productive can you possibly be if you drink to much coffee and your shaking and constantly going to the bathroom? According to the research you function more efficiently and properly on marijuana. Bottom line is that just because society accepts coffee doesn't mean that its a good thing for you or your body. So next time you go to pick a cup of coffee maybe you should think twice and get a decaf!

Reading Blog Assignment