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.