#microassignment

[kaimaccreates]

MICROASSIGNMENT 02: Absurdity

When the elevator arrives sometimes it takes a while to open its door and let me in. Sometimes, before that can even occur, the elevator won't arrive, or worse, the button doesn't call it to my floor. I only live on the fifth floor of an apartment building, with my car on the first and the street on the second. It doesn't take much more time for me to descend the stairs as the elevator that sometimes doesn't come takes its sweet time moving between floors. Yet I still find myself staring at the unpolished and filthy metal door for it to finally let me inside the twice as dirty elevator interior.

It's so slow that I do take the stairs after waiting half a minute, but on days it opens itself to me, I step inside and can press the number of the floor I wish to go to. From here the elevator does one of two things. It either shuts its door and takes me to where I want to go, or it shuts its doors with an uneasy slowness as if taking its time only after staying open entirely too long, unbothered. Immediately after it shuts, it opens with such swiftness and I leave with the same energy, now too afraid the elevator will trap me inside.

When the elevator does agree with me and begins its vertical movement, I sometimes find myself in the predicament of waiting for the doors to release me. The longer I stand there in the silent box and staring at the shoe buffed door, the more unrest builds inside me so I'm running out of the elevator the moment it opens. The uncertainty of the elevator, its behavior, reliability, cleanliness, and time management and effectiveness, continues to have a wide range from okay to abysmal.

I still ride it.

Somehow my disdain for activity and the stairs has me willing to get stuck in an old, crusty elevator two years overdue for inspection. If I were sane, I would not risk that elevator and its creaking and rumbling container. I would not let myself stare blankly at the door while it refuses to open spiraling with thoughts of survival if they were to not open ever. Who would I call first? Could I actually press the help buttons in the elevator? Do they work? Is this really worth it so I don't have to climb stairs? Yes, somedays. Most days, maybe. Even after believing I would get stuck and being wrong, I still tell my mom "I haven't gotten stuck yet," and it's the yet that I'm waiting for.

[sustainplus]

[wordpress-blaze-16179182]

"TOMORROW'S WORLD" TODAY!

Tomorrow's World" was a groundbreaking BBC television series that aired from 1965 to 2003, showcasing emerging technology and making bold predictions.

Some of its forecasts were remarkably accurate, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, online shopping, and transportation. In a 1995 episode, the show attempted to predict what the world would look like in 2025. It foresaw the rise of cyberspace security threats, warning that financial markets could fall victim to "viral terrorism" and that hackers would play a significant role in shaping the digital landscape.

While the internet has remained largely open, cybersecurity has indeed become a major global concern.

The show also envisioned contactless payments, suggesting that people might use implanted microchips to pay for their shopping. While microchip implants haven't become mainstream, contactless banking and mobile payments are now an everyday reality. In terms of transportation, Tomorrow's World speculated about driverless cars, which have since become a major focus of automotive innovation. Companies like Tesla and Waymo have made significant strides in autonomous vehicle technology. The programme also explored farming solutions, predicting advancements in agricultural technology that would improve efficiency and sustainability. Today, AI-driven farming techniques, precision agriculture, and automated machinery are transforming the industry. Perhaps one of its most striking predictions was the rise of artificial intelligence.

The show anticipated that smart machines would become integral to daily life, assisting with tasks ranging from household chores to complex decision-making. AI has now surpassed many expectations, influencing industries from healthcare to finance. While not all of Tomorrow's World's predictions have materialised exactly as envisioned, its ability to foresee major technological shifts remains impressive. It was a show ahead of its time, offering glimpses into a future that, in many ways, has become our present.

https://videopress.com/v/UqEGfxKf?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true In 1995 a BBC Tomorrow's World programme speculated on future technology in 30 years, BBC News "The List" looks back at the advances that are relevant today

Source: "TOMORROW'S WORLD" TODAY!

[hiba-storytelling]

MICROASSIGNMENT 02: Absurdity

While working on the absurdity micro assignment, I noticed that electricity has been a reliant resource to the point where it’s almost like part of the human organ system to function. Although the number of contracts points I was able to count up to 50, I lost track after noticing that I’ve been using tons of power-operated devices unconsciously. To sum up my experience, I decided to draw a piece that portrays a human brain in a form of a lightbulb. This is a representation of how it is us, humans, who are dependent on machines to operate instead of the other way around. It’s as if we are basically the lightbulbs that function when the machines are the ones providing us with power.

[g7rrett]

MICROASSIGNMENT 02: Absurdity

[cheapassimen4-blog]

Thesis statement (in the introduction)All terms, theories, hypotheses, concepts,.Final Essay Question:Throughout the entire essay writing, students will utilize symbolic interaction theory to explain their argument (thesis statement).

[lkoppel-blog]

A screenshot tour of my Minecraft base, partly built as a project for my Comm 170 class. DISCLAIMER: I noticed, after taking all the screenshots, that my character was holding a Dirt Block the entire time. So, you'll notice a brown cube in the lower-right corner of every photo. Please disregard it.

[y01701]

MICROASSIGNMENT 02: Absurdity

clip sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYgY8nQSKIw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKUZIPfKZtU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQwxUAF_YCQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfMUk6c9uj4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uzw1Zr1FE4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r3gNwldTYc

music: Brodyquest by Lemon Demon

[lkoppel-blog]

Commentary on Social Networks

I find Facebook to be, by far, the most useful tool for social networking and collaboration. It allows you to interact with a huge number of people in a natural and customizable way. For instance: you can share hundreds of photos of your recent class trip to the lake with your old friends from high school, your parents, etc… Your friends then can comment on these photos, “like” them, or share them with others. All of these are simple and easy to do. As for customization, you can create lists/categories within your friends, and limit what these groups can or cannot see. For instance: you can make sure your parents can’t see all the pictures you just uploaded from the wild party last weekend, but all your friends can. Or maybe you want to keep your relationship status hidden from just your ex; you can do that too. All the social behaviors and boundaries you would normally see in the real world have a Facebook equivalent.

I dislike Myspace the most, primarily because it is outdated, feels too simple and immature (as a website), and is limited in the interactions/customization it allows. Most importantly, however, is the fact that it is socially deserted. Everyone has moved over to Facebook. No one is left on Myspace. No one uses it. Therefore, trying to use it as a social networking tool is ineffective and foolhardy.

I have not had any particularly meaningful or useful electronic interactions with other members of the class. I am discounting social interactions I have with friends who happen to be in the class as well, as these were not inspired by or relevant to the class in any way. However, if the class had made a Facebook group, I feel that this could have been a useful tool. Everyone is already using Facebook all the time anyway, and so putting the class into that already-thriving social atmosphere could create a more collaborative, interactive experience.

While I love social networking sites, they are, in many ways, just another electronic distraction. True social interaction happens in the real world, face-to-face, and too much “Facebooking” tricks us into thinking that commenting on someone’s Wall or “liking” their posts counts as real friendship and real social behavior. Social networking is useful, but we need to keep it in perspective. It is an extension to real-world society, not a replacement for it.

[lkoppel-blog]

Commentary on Commenting

There’s nothing quite as disappointing and isolating as being the only person commenting on a given forum on the Internet. Therefore, I made a point of trying to comment on posts that already had comments on them. This way, it felt more like an active conversation between myself, the blogger, and the other commenter, as opposed to a single awkward attempt at interaction, most likely lost in the void. Unfortunately, other commenters were few and far between. For the most part, the class blogs I perused were barren of activity, both on the author’s part and on the part of their readers. Therefore, (to more directly answer the question): 2 out of the 3 comments I made were the only comments on that particular post.

I commented on 3 different blogs: Alex Geyster’s blog, Rose Ellen’s blog, and Isaac Zarsky’s blog.

Yes; Alex and Isaac I knew well already, and I had met Rose a few times outside of class (mostly in conjunction with Isaac). As would be expected, I purposefully commented on these people’s blogs for several reasons: a) I knew them, and I felt more comfortable commenting on their blogs as opposed to the blogs of complete strangers, and b) all of their blogs were Wordpress blogs. Commenting on Wordpress was simple and easy. Tumblr blogs have no commenting system, which made it impossible to use many of the class blogs for this assignment.

I do not believe that blogs and commenting are an effective way to communicate in a class setting. As I’ve already pointed out, many blogs do not have a way to comment, which poses a pretty substantial problem. Secondly, and more importantly, discussions on forums/blogs/commenting systems will inevitably fail due to their nature. Several crucial elements of a good, hearty discussion simply cannot take place online, in text form. Discussions online are staggered, which is to say, you have to wait for someone to type out their response before you can read it; you don’t receive it real-time. In person, discussions involve quick thinking, quick responses, and the ability to interject or add in at any point. If you’re just exchanging huge chucks of text back and forth, it feels artificial and stunted. Sitting and waiting, alone, staring at a computer screen, waiting for the next essay of a reply to appear is boring and doesn’t inspire academic or intellectual interaction. Even more frustrating is the “invisible timer” when typing out a response on a forum. Let’s assume you’re participating in a discussion online, and let’s assume you have a really great point to make. You sit there, taking the time to articulately type out your response, correct typos, look it over for mistakes, etc… Then, once you’re ready to post it, you see that several other people have commented in the meantime, and your point is no longer relevant, or someone else has made it, or the conversation has moved past the topic you were responding to. There was a window of opportunity for your comment, but that window had an invisible timer, and (sadly, as it often does in these situations) it ran out before you had your chance. In the real world, this problem doesn’t happen. Maybe the conversation will change, or move on, or render your point irrelevant, but it won’t be a surprise. You will be involved, real-time, in the conversation’s progression.

 See above.

[lkoppel-blog]

Building Something

The application I used to build/create was Minecraft. Unfortunately for this class, Minecraft is a world one must pay to enter. Purchasing a Minecraft account (in other words: purchasing the game) costs around $27 now. Back in my day, when it was still in beta, it cost less. This does mean class members cannot experience my project first-hand. However, through the magic of screenshots, I can upload some pictures and give you all a general idea.

What you see in the pictures below is the result of several solid hours of “work”, and a decent amount of trial-and-error, revision, and planning. Beyond the actual building of the structures, there was (of course) the gathering of the raw building materials. This added an additional several hours of searching and mining. Of course, this “effort” was not particularly strenuous for me. As Minecraft is a game, and a game I thoroughly enjoy, the time I spent on this project was not boring or tedious by any means.

I do like what I have made. This particular “house” is one of my favorites. It is roomy and attractive on the inside, with plenty of room for future expansion in every direction. It contains everything that is essential to success in the game (i.e. a safe bedroom for sleeping through the nights, a room for crafting and item storage, a farm for food production), and many things that are simply fun to create and have (i.e. a fireplace, a minecart rail system, a room for tamed wolves). As is the nature of many artistic endeavors, and as is the nature of Minecraft, this creation is not finished. It is a continual work in progress, and I will continue to play and improve as time goes on. [Screenshots have been added in a separate post, above. Click on each to enlarge the photo and see the explanatory captions]

[lkoppel-blog]

Attending a Virtual Event: MINECRAFT

The “event” I attended was a Minecraft Building Party, hosted by a friend on a private online server. A small group of friends and I agreed to all “meet up” online at a specific time and build up a new Minecraft server together. For ease of communication and coordination, we all joined a Skype conference call beforehand. This way, we could instantly communicate with each other, hands free, without disrupting our Minecraft play. Once the Skype call was set up, we all logged into the server at the same time. For the duration of the build party, we worked on various tasks together, such as constructing a shared base, acquiring necessary resources, exploring the environment, scouting for enemies or dangers, and just goofing around.

By the end of the designated time, we had jointly constructed a sizeable fortress, hollowed out many rich mines, and even discovered a pet wolf. All in all, it was a successful beginning to our new server. However… several problems did crop up along the way. There were both technical problems and human problems. The technical problems were, for the most part, expected. We encountered issues such as occasional server lag, unstable Internet connection (for some of us), and overheated computers, which led to individual player lag (for some of us). Despite these problems being irritating, they were par for the course, and we overcame them quickly and with ease. The human problems, on the other hand, were trickier because they were unexpected, and there were no “standard procedures” for fixing them. The first problem we ran into was that Max (the friend who was to host the server itself) had overslept, and wasn’t ready by the designated time. We had to call him several times to wake him up, and then (none too gently) coerce him into getting the server running as quickly as possible. We ended up getting started nearly 45 minutes late. Another human problem we had to face was lack of universal cooperation. On a multiplayer Minecraft server, it’s difficult to gather the necessary resources and complete certain tasks in time if everyone doesn’t help out a bit. Some players decided to go off on their own, gather their own resources for themselves, and build their own separate bases away from the main group. Though this isn’t exactly a “problem”, per say, it is an interesting dynamic that we had to adjust for.

All in all, the experience was very enjoyable. I always recommend that other people try out playing Minecraft, especially on a multiplayer server. To me, Minecraft is a highly satisfying, creative game, and it’s always more fun to share that experience with my friends in a cooperative way.

[lkoppel-blog]

Commentary on Twitter

Twitterer? Tweeter? Sharer of innumerable mundane thoughts through-out my day? Whatever the label is for people who use Twitter, it now applies to me, as well. I joined the hoards of Twitter under the pseudonym “QuestionBear”. The story behind this name is somewhat long and difficult to explain, but it boils down to this: it’s a unique name that some might call clever or amusing, and so I chose it. It also had the benefit of not already being a Twitter username.

That was the only difficulty I ran into while setting up my Twitter account: choosing a name. A website as wildly popular as Twitter has, as one would expect, a phenomenal number of user accounts, and therefore many of the standard usernames I use online were already taken. This is less of a “difficulty”, per say, than an inconvenience for being behind the times. Other than that, setting up a Twitter was incredibly easy.

And now, the Tweetstorm has begun. Thusfar, I have only used the Twitter website itself for tweeting. My mobile phone’s web browser is completely dysfunctional, so I haven’t tried the mobile Twitter application. I also haven’t tried Tweetdeck, since it doesn’t strike me as particularly necessary. I don’t Twitter enough to warrant bothering to set it up. In fact, I barely Twitter at all. Despite all the hype and craze about Twitter, I still don’t really “get” it. It strikes me as an overwhelming jumble of unnecessary information. Since Twitter posts are restricted to 140 characters or fewer, there is very little room for profound or fascinating commentary. Actual blogging sites are more interesting, in my opinion. People don’t have to limit themselves to meet length requirements; they don’t fuss around with hashtags and @mentions. There’s legitimate, thoughtful things to read on blogs. Tweets come across as self-indulgent and meaningless. “@somebody I’m down at the cafeteria, pizza is great! #yumyum” Thrilling.

I can understand the contexts in which Twitter can be useful (public figures or celebrities keeping up with their fans, event updates, quick jokes or comments), but it just doesn’t feel worth my time, personally.

There is definitely a lot of room for social interaction, which is, I suppose, what makes it so appealing to so many. Through @mentions and hashtags, you can be connected with anyone and everyone. You can find legions of communities, conversations, and comrades if you just do a little digging. However, as I said before, this “connection” feels superficial to me. This is perhaps why many people don’t use (and even adamantly dislike) Twitter. It has nothing particularly substantial to offer. Just a lot of fluff and amusement.

For these reasons, I doubt I will be involved in Twitter beyond this class. I will keep my account, keep following the Twitterers that amuse me, and perhaps post something every once in a while, but only on occasion, or it I am unusually bored.

[lkoppel-blog]

Commentary on Wiki'ing

On September 16th, in the computer lab, our class undertook an impressive task: to build a collaborative Wiki on Moodle. At first, this doesn't sound like a particularly difficult assignment. However, the twist was this: we had to do this with no pre-established leadership, no ideas about direction or style, and no knowledge of the programming medium whatsoever. It became quickly apparent that the main focus of the exercise was less about the quality of the resulting Wiki and more about how we managed to get there. Obviously, one of the goals was to create a functioning, helpful, well-formatted webpage. But if that were the only goal, Professor B. would have assigned specific tasks to each of us, given us an in-depth tutorial in Moodle programming, and explained what precisely we were supposed to do. Instead, he all but threw us into the wild and proclaimed, "You're on your own. I'm just here to watch." What happened next was spontaneous and yet, in some ways, expected. Immediately a particular student assumed the loose role of "Leader". This student gathered everyone around one computer, had us look through what we had to work with, explained her ideas for organization, and assigned tasks to various people. I knew, from the get-go, that someone would assume this role. People are naturally drawn together. We naturally form groups and organize and delegate; we like order as opposed to chaos. With our newly-designated little tasks, we all settled at our various computers and began work. I personally worked a great deal on the main page, formatting the text so it looked decent and cleaning up "debris" from old code. This task was easy enough, merely repetetive. The Moodle tool makes it amazingly easy to accomplish this sort of thing. I was surprised at how well the class continued discussing outloud and collaborating after work began. Computers have a tendency to "suck people in", even when we're all sitting together in the same room, side by side, working on the same project. We forget that we're working with real human beings as opposed to some nameless, faceless entity inside the machine. And so, much of the time, computer-based projects turn into a cluster of related (but distinctly separate) projects occurring in tandem, in which we're all working with the computer, not with each other. But that didn't happen here. One of the interesting functions of Moodle is that only one person can edit any given page at once. If someone is already working on a page, and someone else tries to edit it, they get an error message saying "(So-and-so) is editing this page!". Since the main page of the Wiki needed, by far, the most work, this quickly became a problem. Everyone wanted to work on it at once, and much of the other work couldn't occur before the main page was dealt with. However, our group tackled this issue well. In fact, it seemed to facilitate a greater degree of interaction. If someone needed to get at the main page (or any other page, for that matter) and someone else was working on it, they would simply say, "Hey (so-and-so), I see you're working on (such-and-such). Could you let me on for a second?". We talked to each other. We requested feedback. We crowd-sourced. We asked for help. We worked collaboratively, keenly aware that we were all working together toward the same goal, with (more or less) the same result in mind. By the end of the day, we had a complete, lovely, fully-fuctioning Wiki that was wholly the result of all of our collective effort.

[lkoppel-blog]

Hello World*

*at least, those of you out there in the world that are listening. This marks the debut posting for my yet untitled blog, created for the purpose of the COMM 170 class at Clark University. As may be unnecessary to state at this point, I have decided to use Tumblr for my blog. There are several reasons for this choice, about half of which are logistical in nature, and about half of which are purely artistic and/or sentimental.

I have been using Tumblr for personal purposes for several years now, so I am very familiar and comfortable with the website. Starting a new blog was simple enough to do. Even someone who had never visited the site before would find it immensely easy and straightforward. If you don't have an account already, upon visiting the Tumblr homepage you will be immediately presented with a registration form. All they require is an email address, a password, and a unique Tumblr URL for your blog. Simple as that. No tedious forms to wade through, no unnecessary information, no "Click here if [are going to pretend] you have read the Terms and Conditions". Tumblr doesn't put needless steps between you and blogging. The entire site feels clean and simplified. Homey, even. Whether you are a blogger yourself or just have a Tumblr for reading others' content, everything on the site is easy to do. In fact, the most difficult part of setting up my blog was choosing a theme.

This brings me to what is perhaps my favorite quality about Tumblr: it's customizability. There are literally infinite possibilities for the appearance of your blog page. Thousands of user-made templates are available for free, and if (by some strange tragedy) one to your liking isn’t already on the site, it’s relatively easy to create and upload your own. Everything on your page (layout, appearance, content, the level of interactability available between your readers and yourself, and more) is completely customizable. There is, of course, consistency in the basic function of blogs, which means that although no two blogs look anything alike, they are all equally navigable and understandable.

My only complaint about Tumblr is that it is incredibly difficult to have any meaningful social interaction on the site. It’s possible to “like” a post, to reblog it and add your own caption to the content, and to send private messages to other users. That’s it. There are no forums, no comment system*, or social-networking-type “Walls” for feedback or discussion. It often makes Tumblr feel somewhat one-directional. Bloggers put up plenty of content, and it’s easy to access, but it’s hard for readers to contribute back. (* There is a way to set up comments on Tumblr, but it’s convoluted and through a third-party system. For most people (myself included) it seems like far too much trouble).

All in all, Tumblr is a great blogging service, and I will undoubtedly continue to use it after this class is over. However, I may explore other blogging options at some point, as the lack of social interaction can sometimes make Tumblr feel a little lonely. Anyway, that’s all for now. Til next time.  - Lauren