"Three New Music Services to Try in the New Year " - NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2008/12/23/23readwriteweb-new_year_new_music_services.html

[video] WARNING! The Feds Can Listen to Cellphones Even when Turned Off

Presentations

I was really happy with the presentations from both days. I was glad to see a variety of different topics that all connected back to topics we have discussed in class. I was glad to see that for the most part no two groups did the same project. One of the projects I found most relative to the class and the Professor's push for creativity was Corey's "The Bishop's Ear" website/blog. That really surprised me when I found out that he was the brains behind the operation. I thought that was a great project that may get overlooked because he didn't have the final presentation most of the class had. I am very pleased with the reactions the groups/presenter have gotten from the rest of the class, and what has happened once the classes have ended. I am glad to see that the groups that have done videos have been able to put their videos on YouTube for others to see; also, I think it is very interesting how the beer Mike Sam and Jeff's group presented on has sold out at Wegman's. It just goes to show that they did a good job marketing the product they presented on. That also entails that people aren't just thinking of the information that gets presented in class but outside as well. I too went to Wegman's to see if I could get ahold of some Flying Dog but was unsuccessful. I do wish I had at least gotten a quick summary of what the other members of the class did their final presentations on just to get a basic idea of what they did and how it could relate to the class. Nothing special but just a quick, "I did this and found that..."

Overall I think the final presentations were a great ending to the class because not only did they relate to the class but they concluded our findings from class readings and discussions.

Risk or Fear? What about both?

I thought last Thursday's class was a great class because the constructive criticism we received really helped to push us in a way we should have realized a couple of weeks ago. I think if we had a couple more weeks left in the semester and weren't seeing final presentations tomorrow, I think the class responses to the readings as well as the class as a whole would have changed significantly. It was important to have that negative feedback because that's what way we learn, or me at least. If I do something right the first time, great, wonderful, but if I do something wrong and am criticized for it, then in the end I think I will come away with more of an understanding than if I had just gotten it wrong the first time. We learn from our mistakes. To quote a quote from National Treasure on Thomas Edison and the creation of the light bulb, "I didn't fail. I found 2000 ways not to create a light bulb; I only need to find one way to make it work."

What about this risk, fear thing? Going off on my comment to the post "Hell yeah I'm scared," in class for example, I don't think it is necessarily the risk that makes people not talk, I think it is the fear of rejection. I think people are afraid, myself included, about voicing their opinion sometimes in fear of being heavily criticized. Once Professor started criticizing the groups about their lack of creativity on their group discussions, I think a lot of people were scared to speak their opinion in fear of being criticized even further. That is also why I think people are hesitant to speak for their group, because they are afraid of being criticized. When that persons speaks for their group, as listeners we associate that's groups outcome with that person and not the group. If a group gets heavily criticized I think it is easy for the members other than the spokesperson to kind of sink down in their chairs as if it wasn't their mistake or their view.

Clue Train Manifesto/Article conversation

Group Conclusion:
Agree with the NY Times article. does absolutely appeal to millenians. Exxagerated a little bit. formula for how a good idea gets brought up through the ranks. less of a work ethic today. people used to getting things handed to them. no appreciation for goods. Work ethic has changed. not just internet but values, set of rewards. Parenting and society. No more winner and loser, now winner and second winner. positive reinforcement. no more black and white. don't take the article or as an insult.

Class Response:
C.T. use social networking to communicate. Have internet restrictions. Some Top down authority. Depends on how loose it is. Give some freedoms.

Response email to Mackenzie Wark's chart

After class last week when we tried to figure out how to read the chart, (chart before paragraph 53) I thought I might shoot Mr. Wark an email asking him how to read the shot just for the heck of it. I just explained that we were reading "Gamer Theory" in class and I just asked him if he could givie us some direction or explanation of how to read the chart. Here was his reponse:

The time axis runs left to right; the vertical axis has things that are more like forms or processes at the bottom and more subjective or cultural things at the top. The left hand column gives the case, and -- reading left to right -- three instances of that case which come one after the other. The topical becomes the topographic becomes the topological. That's the essential thesis of the chapter. To each stage corresponds an ethos. Myth is the ethos of the topical (think ancient greeks). Storyline is the ethos of the topographic (the example is Cooper's Last of the Mohicans). Each topos as a line of increasing complexity, from the trails of Cooper's novel to the telegraph to the internet. Which makes action of increasing scale possible. Then the top half is more about a succession of aesthetic forms, subjective experiences, etc. The time frames are actually quite different for each series so they don't necessarily coincide. Lukacs and Cooper are not contemporaries, for example. Almost everything on Fig. C gets a mention in the chapter. Its really just a diagram what's going on in the writing. You could read it as a parody of the charts in textbooks, and as such a provocation to thought.

k

Gamer Theory

When I first started reading Gamer Theory last week I think the main reason why I didn't like its style was because I was not expecting it and because I didn't know how to get the information out of it. The more I read the more I like the book because it is different and because I haven't read a book in this format before. I also like the book because it leaves a lot of room for discussion and other interpretations of the text. There was a great deal of this last class, and I think these discussions will continue tomorrow but I think everyone will have a better understanding of how to deal with the style this book is written in.

Just a quick side note, I know we had labeled Merel's crazy flying images presentation on the second teaching day as "useless," but I couldn't help but notice how many times her "useless" topic has been brought up in class discussions. There have been at least three or four times when I have heard someone use her example and I think it is great I would not be suprised to hear it used again tomorrow.