Random for Now

Since first encountering Interactive Fiction in circa 2004, one of my creative dreams has been to produce a work of Interactive Fiction (I.F.) on my own. For me, the thrill of creating an actual game far outweighs the challenges posed by understanding the coding process and understanding “natural language” - a subset of the English language that operates with imperatives.

I’ve had numerous responses to I.F., ranging from the ever excitable “cool” to the whining lament saying that it’s “too hard to play with.” However, only recently have I opened myself up to the idea of integrating text based games.

I believe, firmly, that while text games are engaging and fun for some, they can also prove to be extremely helpful learning aids in classrooms. The encourage creativity and gauge cognitive abilities like critical thinking, analysis and reasoning.

Visualization

Integrating creativity and higher student involvement in order to facilitate learning is certainly not a new concept. We know that audio-visual aids tend to have higher retention rates, and from an unofficial survey of my own students, who are now learning at a developmental level, I’ve found that a lesson packs a stronger punch if it’s combined with a video aid.

Since sense stimulation is the objective, and “interactivity” is the key concept here, I believe that Interactive Fiction can, should and must be employed as an educative aid. Some of us probably remember the Carmen Sandiego games and cartoon shows.

Certainly, Interactive Fiction is a text heavy concept, but considering that it requires solving a puzzle, I think that small chunks of text would be read and understood more clearly than a page full of words.

Going North

In addition to relying on text and user interaction, IF games also work heavily with compass directions. And the clues for walking towards the right direction are usually in the “stage” directions.

For example, if the game directions tell you that while you’re standing in a gallery, with the door to the porch towards the south, it might not do you any good to start walking north.

Imagine, if you will, an I.F. game being used in a Geography class. As a Geography teacher, one would want students to know how physical areas exist in relation to one another.

In a Carmen Sandiego and normal classroom world, we would have visual aids. But what if visual aids weren’t available to facilitate learning?

For someone who might be directionally dysfunctional, or just poor at Geography, perhaps textually understanding spatial relations may prove beneficial.

If the game directions go thusly:

“You live in Connecticut and you are thinking of traveling to Maine. Maine is to the north of Connecticut. The country side in Maine is more rustic, the drive is scenic and full of trees, and you desperately need to get away from the suburban/ city living.”

Once the “stage directions” have been given, it’s time for the user to step in and interact with the text. The process really just boils down to conflict-resolution or goal achievement.

If the goal, in the above example, is to leave Connecticut and head towards Maine, you might want to tell the game to “Go to Maine.” However, a more directionally appropriate response would be to simply type in “Go North” or “N.”

From a cognitive point of view, since the game says Maine is north of CT, and that’s where one wants to reach by the end of the game, going north makes logical sense. For someone who wouldn’t necessarily know that Maine is to the north of CT without seeing the clue in the directions, typing in “Go North” might switch a light on in their minds.

Working Logic

The game I’ve worked on is a simple example of the logical steps one needs to take in order to achieve a goal.

The objective of my game is to be able to get downstairs from the bedroom into the kitchen and eat eggs for breakfast.

The plot, if there is one, along with the tasks that need to be accomplished, is simple. However, I believe that the sheer simplicity of the plot demonstrates the need for critical thinking, logical reasoning and application of these skills to learning. They are some of the abilities that I, and all teachers, evaluate on a constant basis.

If the kitchen is on the first floor, and the fridge is in the kitchen, and the eggs are in the fridge, logically, the fridge is the object that must be reached in order to achieve the goal of the game.

Retention

Of course, retention is also a part of learning, and IF games can gauge retentive abilities as well. Since the games are constructed like maps, a complex layout requires remembering the path taken to retrace it.

For example, if the stairs in the house lead you up from the kitchen, into the bedroom, which is west of the library, which in turn is south from the terrace, returning to the kitchen requires remembering the direction take to get to the terrace in the first place.

Why IF?

Even though Interactive Fiction has been around for a while, especially since the days of Zork, in my opinion, it hasn’t been utilized enough to the point of including people who aren’t aware of it already. But also because getting students involved with Interactive Fiction has the possibility of increasing their learning abilities and outcomes and their skill set.

According to a study reported by the New York Times, participation in activities related to new media gives youth “the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page” (Lewin 1). While they’re learning how to get along with others, I believe that through Interactive Fiction, they can also sharpen their practical real world skills. Like finding their way out a forest using a compass. 

If socializing and learning are moving on to a new medium of communication, then what better way to provide impetus to learning than through interactivity.

Parents are concerned these days that their children spend entirely too much time gallivanting around on web sites. I can understand their concern. When social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook arrived on the Web 2.0 scene, seemingly they came to conquer and stay. And perhaps even remain in a constant state of war with each other behind the scenes.

But socializing is good, no? Yes, I say. Gosh knows that people could stand to improve their social skills by leaps and bounds, what with the constant talking, whining, interrupting and impoliteness that’s spread to epidemic proportions. I’m not exaggerating, and you know it. So, if the world is fastly moving online, then apparently, so is social interaction.

According to the NYT, my holy grail of news reporting:

It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.

Granted that spelling skills are on the decline. As I grade papers more frequently these days, I come across Freudian slips of IM-ese. Oh, and the playgrounds might be seeing fewer children since it’s easier to play on apartment building rooftops anyway. But let’s be honest…being web savvy DOES matter. Because when that lost person walks into a computer lab and says, “I can’t open my internet” we’re all secretly snickering inside.

I’m still trying to decide how I feel about the ubiquity of it all.

Today, I attended a forum on the consolidation of News Media at Tunxis Community College with my students. The panelists included Patrice Hamilton and John Timmons, both associate professors at Tunxis, Keith Burris, editorial-page editor at the Journal Inquirer and Joe Zerby, VP and GM at The Blade in Ohio.

Along with debating the ethics involved in consolidating media, the panel discussion also covered related media issues, for instance, true journalism and credible news stories.

Apparently, the New Britain Herald is in danger of being shut down because the newspaper is not circulating enough to make a profit. Since media consolidation was the issue at hand, naturally the ethics of hostile takeovers were debated. According to the panelists, and I’m paraphrasing, journalism needs to reflect more than a need to make money; it should focus, instead on sustaining communities through accurate and pointed reporting.

Agreed. But in capitalist America? Really? Most of us have seen the days of losing jobs to hostile takeovers, and usually, the first option to be released is the least profitable or the least productive one. I’m not too thrilled to hear that a small town newspaper is possibly going out of business, but is shutting down really the only option?

Web logs are everywhere. In the past four or five years, blogs have multiplied exponentially, and increasingly, blogs are settling into niched areas. You know that really obscure knitting pattern that no one would ever critique? Yeah, there’s probably a blog for it out there. Between RSS feeds, readers and Facebook, information doesn’t live in the hallowed halls of the Ivy educated cubicle owners. It lives at our fingertips.

Of course, the blogging argument leaves the door wide open to critique because blogging isn’t real journalism. I’m not a journalism student, so I don’t necessarily know the official definition of journalism. However, I have been the copy editor of a student newspaper that followed strict AP style guidelines and tried its best to keep staff opinion at bay. Which means there are certainly people out there who either know enough, or could be trained enough, to honor the basic tenets of journalism. Ergo, these tenets could be applied to new forms to communication? Like they already have been? Yes?

Yes. I think so. Aside from the newspapers taking to websites to deliver their news content, what stops them from setting up weblogs maintained by staff members? I’m sure that somehow, web logs can be set up as non-profit news operations, bringing at least the local news to a community. At bare bones advertising level, all you would need is a computer, a text editing software and a printer to get the word around. Libraries, churches, local restaurants…the possibilities to get going are endless. This is how grass roots work.

Granted, my hypothetical solution might be oversimplifying the issue. In fact, I think it does, but why cross out possibilities before exploring them? One never knows when a new initiative might go viral.

A link from my cousin over in Vancouver. The Adobe Creative Suite never ceases to impress me. Have a look.

Last week when I walked into Stop and Shop for my weekly groceries, I walked out with a coupon that gave me a free gallon of milk. Apparently, I had already bought five gallons of milk in the two weeks prior, and I had earned a free gallon after purchasing five. It’s interesting to see that my grocery store has been tracking my purchases through my rewards card to the point that it can predict exactly what I’ll be looking for the next time I visit.

The truly interesting notion is that I hadn’t thought about how much of my own information I had offered up to the corporations until I read Gift of Fire. According to Baase, “A person has no right to enter your property without your permission, independent of any harm done” (408). However, in my opinion, we have in many ways allowed ourselves to be accessed completely, which I see as less of an invasion and more of good marketing. In retail shopping, the entire “tracking” process begins with saying “yes” to a coupon mailing list, filling out the forms for a rewards card afterward, and then promptly forgetting about the fact that we have in fact given the corporations access into our lives and somewhat personal information.

If most of us are looking for information and for products when we go online, then having our spending habits tracked may actually make sense, especially if fraudulent activity is nearby. After all, we do pay companies money to scan our credit card statements for fraud notification. And, undeniably, having a comprehensive phone call list from our cellphones is always handy when we need to defend ourselves against overused minutes.

While agreeably the data being collected on consumers is at high risk for a security breach, one could argue that the same risks existed in a print-only culture, albeit at a smaller scale. For instance, for years now, Delhi University (DU) in New Delhi, India, has been notorious for security breaches with leaked final examination questions. Every once in a while, people get to hear about either university officials or students who try to pawn off the extremely difficult questions to the university wide board administered exams. And yet, despite all odds, DU has seemingly evolved. The evolution here, I believe, is that the leaks have evolved from print media to online servers. Therefore, the threat of the security breach has never really been done away with.

I believe the exposure of people to information ties in to heightened fear levels. Media hype through multiple websites and the sheer number of people connected online add up to information and rumors being transmitted at lightening speed. Were we to exchange information only through print media, then the alternative nomenclature for data mining could possibly have been record keeping.

In a world and a time where people demand instantaneous information, my guess is that companies are under constant pressure to deliver, and on the spot. I submit that monitoring our internet usage and browsing habits ultimately is a means to fulfilling our needs as consumers, considering that in the West we live in a consumer driven, capitalist economy. If profit is the goal by the end of the day, then the suppliers need to fulfill consumer demands.

According to the New York Times, executives from the web companies state that the data [collected] is a boon to consumers, because it makes the ads they see more relevant, [because] these companies often connect consumer data to unique codes identifying their computers, rather than their names (Story 1). Once upon a time ago, data mining was also seen as conducting a survey. Records of preferences and spending habits were stored even when random people walked up to us in grocery stores to offer us food samples. If the advent of Big Brother is an argument, then the concept is no more alien with electronic media than it was with print media.

Perhaps the threat may seem reduced if we change our perspective to include marketing as opposed to invasion of privacy. What, after all, is targeting, asks Michael Galgon of the NYT. “You’re getting content about things and messaging about things that are spot-on to who you are” (Story 1), much in the same way that the newspapers send out flyers and coupons. If a security breach argument still sustains itself, then I believe that cautious consumption, not the blame game, would be a more effective answer.

References

1. Baase, S. (2007). Professional ethics and responsibilities. Gift of fire: Social, legal, and ethical issues in computing. New York: Prentice-Hall.

2. Story, L. (2007) To aim ads, web is keeping closer eye on you. New York Times.

It’s only Facebook mini, isn’t it? So, why, pray tell, am I as equally addicted to Twitter as I am to Facebook? Perhaps because the website has more colors? More pictures? Or because I can update my Facebook status via Twitter? I think that last one might be it.

This whole integrated, inter-linked universe that lets me stay virtually connected at all times is becoming dangerous. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t walk away from my computer for any given length of time. Do you know that I haven’t read a book - a real book; one that comes with pages bound between two flaps on the front and back end - since mid-August? It’s because I HAVE to stay connected. It’s not a compulsion. It’s a necessity, especially if I need to graduate in a few semesters.

So, in homage to connection, I’m tweating like a bird on Twitter. According to the settings, I can be nudged if I haven’t updated my status in over 24 hours, which seems a little extreme to me. I know I can choose to deselect this option (which I have!), but what if I don’t want to be nudged? Or followed? Or updated? The simple response is, don’t freakin’ sign up!

The more complicated response is “my teacher made me sign up to have a live tweating session for a presidential issues panel at school, so I had such a good time with tweating that now I’m addicted and can’t get away to save my life, or my grade, for that matter.”

Oh well. It’s still New Media.

So, if ever there was lingering doubt that resistance to the New Media change might be futile, the New York Times seeks to lay rest to it.

According to NYT, changing technology has had a huge impact on the way people have chosen to receive information regarding tomorrow’s election. From debates, to poll information, to Tina Fey’s spoofs on SNL, people have been turning to the web and away from old media in record numbers.

Granted that most of the facilities available today had not been around the time G Dubya made it in, although I distinctly remember Facebook’s non-ubiquitous existence.

Per the article:

For many viewers, the 2008 election has become a kind of hybrid in which the dividing line between online and off, broadcast and cable, pop culture and civic culture, has been all but obliterated. Many of the media outlets influencing the 2008 election simply were not around in 2004. YouTube did not exist, and Facebook barely reached beyond the Ivy League. [...] When viewers settle in Tuesday night to watch the election returns, they will also check text messages for alerts, browse the Web for exit poll results and watch videos distributed by the campaigns. And many folks will let go of the mouse only to pick up the remote and sample an array of cable channels with election coverage — from Comedy Central to BBC America.

This beats Google’s plan for world domination, which is impending, lemme tell ya.

You know, I don’t feel so bad about not reading a newspaper any more. I’m definitely connected to the news, but I don’t feel the need to rustle through sheets of paper that I’ll never be able to fold back together again. Kinda like reading a map. I’m one of those people who can’t understand how the world could have ever existed without Mapquest. I can live without a GPS system, but I can’t make it to there and back again without Mapquest. And I digress.

Coming back to the ubiquity of 2.0. Facebook + Digg + Del.i.cious + Blogger + MySpace + Hulu + Twitter = Universal Information Disbursement. So what if it’s exactly the same information being shared a million different ways? At least it’s getting out of the hands of boardroom executives and taking a few runs ’round the block.

We read differently, we share differently…we even categorize differently now. You know where said article has been archived? Under Media and Advertising. Not Technology.

People are whiners. They whine. And they resist change, they fight it, they yell constant streams of profanities at it and brandish their steam filled fists at it when just learning about a new way could have been so much easier.

I think we leave basic learning incomplete in the K-12 levels. Proficiency in reading, writing and ‘rithmetic is great, but what about Life Skills 101? Adapting to change? Taking away boundaries from learning and learning to look at the bigger picture? Ooh ooh! I have a good one! How about learning to move with the digital age? Buzz words and complicated programming aside, there’s more to be said to learning about digital media and products than “this sucks!”

I mean, it’s everywhere. Coffee makers, washing machines, dryers, cars, remote controls (okay, so this one’s a gimme), phones and even basic necessities like tooth brushes. Sure, there are any number of valid reasons against the advent of technology/ learning new things out there. Keeping up is expensive, frustrating, difficult and sometimes even unnecessary. But who asks to go out into the wild and learn back end programming to understand how new technology works?

It’s going to take over, you know. It HAS taken over in more places than MIT or the annual hacking conventions in Vegas. And honestly, if 12 years later, you’re STILL whining about how difficult it is to send emails to people, you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Take, for example, my mother who is constantly resisting technology. Over a decade after the widespread use of email and IM as a major means of communication, she still asks me to “turn on” the computer “open the internet” to find information that is no less than the click of a button away. You should see the showdown we have when I ask her to do it herself. I get waterworks (yes, actual crying), guilt (Can’t you do this for me? It’s not like I ever ask you for anything), or the cold shoulder. She stops talking to me when I tell her to “open the internet” on her own but never, EVER goes online on her own. There are days when I still check her email for her. And this is the desktop at home. I’m guessing she’s light years away from ever even trying to use my laptop.

Sure, computers can be overwhelming, especially once you get past the “ooh! shiny!” response. They take maneuvering and multitasking and perhaps even lots of squinting to get comfortable with, and it’s not always easy. The irony here, however, is that she used to work for IBM once upon a lifetime ago. And she has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science.

Sigh.

To say that we are now living in a decidedly ubiquitous new media and technology world would not be a stretch of the imagination. Academia aside, new and improved technology is erupting around us, at least in the western hemisphere, like mushrooms; at this point, staying updated and current with emerging technology might be a full time job in and of itself. However, in my humble opinion, blaming technology for all the ills of society is hardly the way out, especially when picking a focused area of technology is that much easier. Marketers call it the development of a niche market.

According to Cooper, in the changing face of technology “many people are considered insufficiently ‘computer illiterate’ and are thus not employable.” While asking aging retirees to learn a complex set of skills might be harsh on their learning curve, the same cannot be said of people who need these skills to keep advancing through their careers. Pointing fingers at computers and lobbying baseballs at them is all too easy and perhaps even convenient.

At the usability end, every consumer is not expected to learn the 50,000 lines of code that come with new programs. I agree that programmers and organizations alike need to spend more time testing their designs with their end users. Sometimes, placement of a feature is the key. If people are used to searching for the Header feature on top of their Word documents, they’re not going to be thrilled about trying to find it on the bottom of the page. That’s bad design. By the same token, a shift from a current version of Word to a newer one doesn’t necessarily mean that the program is ill designed, but that the behavior pattern, on the human side, needs to be adjusted.

Take, for instance, the simple act of withdrawing money from a bank account via an ATM. I insert my card into the machine, put in the pin, select my withdrawal option, get the money and head out on my merry way. The transaction is quick, easy and simple if I can remember which bank I’m at and the card that I need to use. Of course, keeping myself organized isn’t always the easiest task, so I walk around with a little note card that reminds of my user names and pin codes at corresponding areas.

Per Cooper’s soap-box stance:

…the ATM computer finesses me into a misstep. It always asks me whether I want to withdraw money from my checking, savings, or money-market account, even though I have only a checking account. Subsequently, I always forget which type it is, and the question confuses me. About once a month, I inadvertently select ’savings’ and the infernal machine summarily boots me out of the entire transaction to start over from the beginning (4, 29).

I respectfully disagree because complaining about the degree of difficulty is not always a viable way of dealing with the changes in technology. I don’t think it’s the machine’s fault if I don’t remember the type of account I have at a bank. Granted, that launching a stream of profanity is a good way to vent the anti-tech frustration. Also granted that the programmers could factor in a memory chip that remembers the information for me, but then lobbyists against the Patriot Act wouldn’t be too far away in line either. Do we really want to blame a piece of equipment for not doing its job when in reality we could be the ones not adapting well?

Change is invevitable. It’s not always easy, but it is always inevitable, and it’s no secret that resistance to change does result in unhappy endings. Of course, common sense also helps exponentially. So does reading the user manual.

Cooper, A. (2004). The inmates are Running the Asylum, 1-38, 203-215.

I think that title might have a copyright backing it up.

Tonight, I wonder whether the Associated Press can be taken seriously. Sometimes, the craziness of human nature leaves us with our jaws dropped. Yet, people take bizarre steps in their lives every single day. Like getting married to the high school crush. Or eating a gallon of ice cream in one go. Or, you know, killing a digital persona because of a digital divorce.

A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband’s digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.

Before you say Utah, think more along the lines of Tokyo. Hell hath no fury like a jilted woman. Even in New Media.