Digital Story - Proposal

I.                    For my Digital Story proposal I have decided to do it as an outline

A.                  Violent Video games are affecting kids attitudes and behavior in a negative way

1.                  Kids are becoming more violent because of certain video games

2.                  Kids behavior is being negatively affected by replicating actions seen in video games

a)                  Ex: Grand Theft Auto series

b)                  School shootings have become more and more common since 1997

B.                  Video games strive to achieve a “M” rating

1.                  Kids who play violent video games want a gory, violent game

a)                  Game producers are responding to the demand for a more violent game by increasing the violence, blood, and foul language used

2.                  Graphics are becoming more and more life-like which users enjoy

a)                  Kids want a more life-like game

C.                  Advertisements for games/consoles encourage violence

1.                  Kids playing video games act as if they are soldiers

a)                  New Call of Duty: Ghosts game uses advertisement saying “There’s a solider in all of us”

(1)               Game encourages violent gameplay by telling consumers to release the solider within themselves

2.                  Advertisements use violence as an incentive to play their game/console

a)                  Play station 4 “perfect day” ad uses three games which contain violence in all of them

(1)               Ad depicts a “perfect day” by playing violent games as a perfect day. There are two characters singing a cheerful” perfect day” song while acting violently. The song says how the characters would not want to spend the day any other way, or with anyone else. This is suggesting they are friends.

(a)               First game-section is a duel between two middle age soldiers  where the one clearly kills the other before the camera jumps to the second ad

(b)               The second game is between the two same characters who are now racing. The one driver runs the other driver into the guard wall which then flips the driver.

(c)                The third game is a futuristic game where both characters now have armies and are shooting laser guns at each other, still while happily singing.

D.                 Studies conclude that violent video games make kids more violent

1.                  Not all studies prove that video games are a link to more violent tendencies

a)                  Not all studies of any subject prove a certain point 100% of the time

"Genre and Game Studies: Toward a Critical Approach to Video Game Genres." Genre and Game Studies: Toward a Critical Approach to Video Game Genres. Sage Journals, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. <http://sag.sagepub.com/content/37/1/6.short>.

Anderson, Craig A. "An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games." An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games. Science Direct, Feb. 2004. Web. 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197103000976>.

"Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-analytic Review." Psycnet.org. PsycNet, Mar. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/136/2/151/>.

Anderson, Craig A. "Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions." Tomorrow Counseling. Psychological Science Agenda, Oct. 2003. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. <http://www.tomorrowcounseling.com/TDE_CMS/database/userfiles/Violence%20in%20Video%20Games(1).pdf>.

Call of Duty. "Call of Duty: Ghosts Trailer." YouTube.com. YouTube, 02 Nov. 2013. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNxh7umVOZ0>.

Blog post for 11/8 Games

My blog post this week is about the games I played on Monday during class. Since I have previously blogged about, and played Phone Story so I am familiar with games that advocate a social action message. A game I have played was Personal Trip to the Moon. I really did not understand this game at all, and did not play it for that long. I was not sure what the point of this game was. The next game I played was called Clockwork Cat. It was a fun and simple game. I enjoyed the game for the most part, it was relatively simple. The character was a cat and the goal of the game was to maneuver through a maze which was in the air while trying to turn back time with doughnut looking objects. If the large clock in the back ground hit midnight, you lost. There was also candy looking icons which did something, but I'm not sure what exactly. The next game I played was called Those Darn Nipples. This game was quite weird to say the very least. The goal of the game was to align the nipples of different sized breasts and there were incorrectly placed nipples to throw the user off. Like I said, very weird. The next game I played was called Unmanned. This game, unlike the games before it, had a social justice aspect to it. The main character to this game was a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) operator. The social justice aspect being highlighted is to alert the people who are playing this game to covert military operations that are occurring in the Middle East. While this is happening the game is implying that video games stress a militaristic environment today.  

Discussion questions for 11/06

Discussion questions for 11/06

1. Why do you think video games are so important today in society?

2. What do you think video games are good for?

3. Would you play a video game for a social action cause?

4. When you play a video game what insights does the game provide you?

5. How can a video game can influence your views?

Blog Post for 11/1 on SAP project

My post this week is about my group's SAP project, and has to do with a charity my group has selected to be a part of our SAP project. The charity is called FOTC, Friends of the Congo, and has its own website, friendsofthecongo.org. FOTC has two objectives. First being to create networks across the world to connect the Congolese with others internationally. The second being to work with the Congolese to realize the enormous human and natural potential in the Congo.  FOTC has several different aspects of their charity. One aspect is their Youth Program called the Congo Connect Youth Project. It raises money to establish youth centers to raise the standard of living for the 32 million children fourteen and under living in the Congo. Sixty four percent of the 75 million people living in the Congo are twenty four years old or younger. This project creates youth centers called Technology Networking Centers that raise the standard of living by giving the Congolese access to computers, internet, and other digital means. These TNC's would be built by donations, monetary and digital items, given to FOTC, currently there are 3 centers in the Congo. Other ways a person could help with FOTC if they wanted to are teach-ins, making a financial donation, donating digital equipment, organizing a FOTC representative to come to a person's local community, or hosting a Congo Week in a person's community. Congo Week is FOTC's main goal is to educate people on the issues going on in the Congo and to break the silence.

Charity source - http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/strategic-overview-117.html
Population source - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html

Coltan information

My article this week is on my Social Action Project (SAP) topic which is Coltan mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (commonly known as DRC) which is located in central Africa as shown in the picture below. About 64% of the world's supply of Coltan, also known as Columbite-tantalite, is in the DRC. Coltan is a vital metal in so many electronic products from HD televisions, to hearing aids, to wind turbines, to even x-ray film. Many of the surrounding countries, but Rwanda and Uganda are the two big players in the Coltan extraction game. Those two countries alone do not contain much Coltan, but they pillage the DRC for its vast resource of Coltan. The United Nations said in a 2001 report, according to friendsofthecongo.org, said "The consequences of illegal exploitation has been twofold: massive availability of financial resources for the Rwandan Patriotic Army, and the individual enrichment of top Ugandan military commanders and civilians; the emergence of illegal networks headed by either top military officers or businessmen." The UN also cites multinational corporations are also to blame for the fueling the war in the DRC and exploiting of Coltan. From the article it lists a total of seven US based companies, and five other non-US based companies. Three of the seven US based companies are actually based in Ohio. OM group, Eagle Wings Resources International (a subsidiary of Trinitech International), and Trinitech International are all based in Ohio, with OM Group based in the Cleveland. According to their website OM Group http://www.cpt.org/work/africa_great_lakes/corporate_complicity all seven listed companies profited from the conflict in the DRC, including the three from Ohio. I found the website for OM group, omgi.com/product-recycling.html , based in Westlake, Ohio, which states they have a smelting factory in Lubumbashi, DRC. Factories such as these process and prepare the raw Coltan for big corporations like Foxconn, Nokia, and Sony. I was unable to find websites for Eagle Wings Resources International, and Trinitech International.

Link to article: http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/resource-center/coltan.html

Blog post for 10/18 "A Contentious Issue"

My blog post this week is on an article from Recyclingtoday.com, and is about a proposed bill. This proposed bill is known as H.R. 2284 in the House of Representatives, and S. 1270 in the Senate respectively. This bill is more commonly known as the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act (RERA). This article has debate from both positive and negatives of the RERA. There has been lobbying groups in support of RERA and also against it as well. Several electronic recyclers, industry groups, and environmental groups have publicly supported RERA. The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has come out against this bill. In 2012 the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report that coincides with the view of the ISRI as well as the Basel Action Network (BAN), an activist group already discussed in class. RERA’s purpose would be to prohibit the export of some electronics that, if improperly disposed, could create environmental, health, or national security risks. RERA would accomplish this by adding a new sect to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) which is designed to protect developing countries from receiving our E-waste.  RERA lists several materials, or chemicals in particular that would make a product restricted waste and could not be legally shipped to another country, unless that country approves of the transfer. RERA also calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set minimum standards for the toxic substances, and clarify which materials are toxic, and which are not. These bipartisan actions are consistent with most other developed nations, and are a step in the right direction from keeping E-waste out of the wrong hands.

Source: http://www.recyclingtoday.com/rt0412-responsible-electronics-recycling-act.aspx

Blog post for Digital Story Proposal

I.                    For my Digital Story proposal I have decided to do it as an outline

A.                  Violent Video games are affecting kids attitudes and behavior in a negative way

1.                  Kids are becoming more violent because of certain video games

2.                  Kids behavior is being negatively affected by replicating actions seen in video games

a)                  Ex: Grand Theft Auto series

b)                  School shootings have become more and more common since 1997

B.                  Video games strive to achieve a “M” rating

1.                  Kids who play violent video games want a gory, violent game

a)                  Game producers are responding to the demand for a more violent game by increasing the violence, blood, and foul language used

2.                  Graphics are becoming more and more life-like which users enjoy

a)                  Kids want a more life-like game

C.                  Studies conclude that violent video games make kids more violent

1.                  Not all studies prove that video games are a link to more violent tendencies

a)                  Not all studies of any subject prove a certain point 100% of the time

"Genre and Game Studies: Toward a Critical Approach to Video Game Genres." Genre and Game Studies: Toward a Critical Approach to Video Game Genres. Sage Journals, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. <http://sag.sagepub.com/content/37/1/6.short>.

Anderson, Craig A. "An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games." An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games. Science Direct, Feb. 2004. Web. 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197103000976>.

"Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-analytic Review." Psycnet.org. PsycNet, Mar. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/136/2/151/>.

Anderson, Craig A. "Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions." Tomorrow Counseling. Psychological Science Agenda, Oct. 2003. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. <http://www.tomorrowcounseling.com/TDE_CMS/database/userfiles/Violence%20in%20Video%20Games(1).pdf>.