War in 2007: From 2-D to 3-D

A few years ago I was waiting to see a movie at the tech-savvy popular Metreon in downtown San Francisco. What I found at the Metreon was an advanced insult to the notoriously politically correct city where this machine had planted its high tech brainwashing squirrelly self.

I saw children holding plastic machine guns and heard the words ‘shoot the terrorist’ echoing from the multi-media center. The screen was set to a desert backdrop and the enemies darting across it were wearing headscarves.  Needless to say I freaked out.  No, don’t do it, I told my 20-year old brother as he strode purposefully over to this soul- stealing machine. “But it has really cool high-tech laser beams,” he responded casually. I stood helplessly by and pondered the invisible arm turned machine that is/was Donald Rumsfeld.

In her post ‘Gaming as a Recruiting and Tracking Tool for the Army,’ Cullen writes “Using these tactics in recruiting people to make one of the biggest decisions of their lives when it might be hard to divorce the virtual world from reality is less than reputable.”

As 2007 turns to 2008 games become more high-tech and draw more audiences than can fit into a game room. Online, the army seduces a young, screen fixed audience to train for a war they are not made to see as real. This is done by making their virtual war game seem so real, that the real thing, (after being recruited according to game skill and sent to Iraq), seems like just another game over.

Kia’s Obama, Coming to Every Electronic Device Near You

I should have read Kia’s post ‘Barack Obama’s Long Tail: BEYOND Dean, BEFORE The election,’ before I did my own post embracing web 2.0 to advance knowledge on presidential candidates.  Kia and Obama are two steps ahead of me in knowing how to use web 2.0 to reach the people and promote an informed democracy. Until I took Media politics and truth in the digital world, I did not really think twice about the e-mails I would receive from presidential candidate Barack Obama. Sure, I signed up to work on his campaign, wrote some essays and answered marketing research questions, but I did not think of the larger impact my casual participation played in world history. I got informed, I volunteered and I gave advice on how to better reach people of my demographic. Most of this communication happened while I was alone in my room and with people I have never met. 

“Hey Emily, Its Barack, I just wanted to tell you that my visit to S.F. last week went great and I hope to see you at the next event!” These e-mails would be met with a slight grin and eventual spam.

When I look at Obama’s plan for a public media web 2.0. my initial reaction is one of extreme excitement.  Web cams all over the Whitehouse are an intriguing concept. The ability to watch all congressional hearings online blows my mind.  I start to wonder though how many people would really take advantage of Obama’a plan to bring more government transparency by means of the ever-expanding information super highway. Most people who have the Internet also have a Starbucks up the street from their house, where they can pick up the New York Times and read about many of the issues Obama plans to publish online. The question is why would the vast majority of America, who continuously declines to embrace knowledge already inches from their fingertips, go read about it online. 

Would Obama’s chief technology officer truly bring democracy to a wired America or become just another D.C. acronym

Blurred Absolutes: A blog about a blog

Blurred Absolutes is my favorite. I start with Jessica’s page as I begin my weekly review of my classmates work. Her posts make even the truly technical stuff interesting. For example with the creative commons assignment I just did not know where to begin. Jessica inspired me to tell a story and bring the reader in with a personal anecdote. She began her post with a gripping account of an experience she recalls from her childhood education. I wait to see what happens forgetting what the post is meant to be about. Then she ties it all together.

In her t post “A Rose colored apathy,” Jessica begins the article by making me wonder where she is going by citing LSD and Greek mythology. I remain interested and wonder if this is one of her free for all blogs or an assigned one. What follows is a starkly honest account of war blogging.

            Jessica does what she cites Achenbach as doing in her blog “Achenbach of the People.” She tackles issues that everyone is familiar with; junk mail, ect. and personalizes it in a way that the reader feels like she lives next door to them and trudges along through their day making the same casual observations that anyone might while sifting absent mindedly through junk mail. Her blogs are conversations that keep the reader wanting to talk.

            In “A dream goes on forever” Jessica shows what writers can really do. The first paragraph, though leading up to second life, makes me want to read what other imagery and power Jessica can pull forth with a keyboard. I prefer her writing to Second Life. She may guide me towards the image of a tearoom with cranberry scones and weather controlling powers. Second life may allow users to flex their imagination from other people’s chosen imagery, but reading leaves me with more free will and money in my pocket.