Video Games: The Past, The Present, The Future
Final Essay
This is my final essay and my final blog post for digital humanities. In this essay I look at the evolution of the video games from the 70's to what can be expected in the near future.  I look at the technology of the times and the consoles through the years.

An Analysis of Foreign Language Uses in Electronic Literature : Final Essay

An Analysis of Foreign Language Uses in Electronic Literature : In this essay I discuss the use of language in Electronic Literature. The focus is primarily on languages other than English. Topics include how these works emerged and are represented in the current collections of Electronic Literature. Discussion follows how these non English based works can be used in education and how they can further unite the world in our growing global culture.

Data Mining in Sports

Data Mining in Sports will talk about the potential for predicting different outcomes of players in various sports. Particularly talking about one of the more notable usages of sabermetrics, and the Oakland A's. The essay will also define what a clutch player is, and how there was a specific example of how MSU's "clutch" player failed in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

Stelarc by Amber Whistler

In my final essay I have decided to talk about Stelarc. I talk about what Stelarc does, who he is, why his inventions are important, and finally why he fits in digital humanities. I added some interesting facts about the guy and colorful pictures. Enjoy!

An Analysis of Convergence

As stated by the famous Robin Williams “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world”. One of the biggest ideas changing the world is technology. Technology is changing how we live every single day, and some people fear that we will lose where we came from with all of this change. This is where convergence comes in.  So what is Convergence? Convergence is a term used by Henry Jenkins to describe the coming together of old and new technology. The world now has so much more access to things thanks to the advances in technology. In Jenkins’ piece, “Convergence Culture”, he describes how these things enhance one another

One of his first examples was how phones have made things like watching movies so much easier. He describes a time when a film from Bollywood, Rok Sako To Rok Lo, was screened through mobile devices using a live screencasting. This was taking an old, familiar thing and giving it a new spin. Allowing mobile phones ability to access this movie made watching it an easier and more personalized experience. Phones are a big part of convergence because now we can change channels, take pictures, check the news, see the weather, listen to music, watch videos and so much more by just using our phones. Phones are making other devices, such as cameras and iPods, almost obsolete because who is going to by several devices when you can have one the does it all. Which led us to Jenkins’ idea of the Black Box.

He refers to the idea as The Black Box Fallacy and here is why. The Black Box is the idea of a single device being able to control all technology, kind of where the phone is heading, but this is impossible hence the Fallacy part of the name. The reason this would be impossible is mainly because technology is advancing and changing every single day. This device would be in a constant state of updating to try and keep up. The device would have to be able to do everything a computer, phone, xBox, playstation, cable box, etc. can do. How could the world even invent something with that much space for memory and processing? How could this device function fast and efficiently when it constantly has to update and keep up with advances? It would not be possible.

Convergence is not the idea that the old is becoming non-existent because the new is pushing it out of the way. It is the idea that old and new will come together to make something greater. Thanks to technology old ways of doing things will never be forgotten so the aim here is not to get rid of old technology. Let us face it they only way we made so many strides with technology is because the old technology existed in the first place. The reason so many people fear convergence is because so many people fear change and until we understand convergence people will always be afraid of it.

For Your Viewing Pleasure "Rok Sako To Rok Lo,"

Convergence and Change

  As stated by the famous Robin Williams “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world”. One of the biggest ideas changing the world is technology. Technology is changing how we live every single day, and some people fear that we will lose where we came from with all of this change. This is where convergence comes in. So what is Convergence? Convergence is a term used by Henry Jenkins to describe the coming together of old and new technology. The world now has so much more access to things thanks to the advances in technology. In Jenkins’ piece, “Convergence Culture”, he describes how these things enhance one another.

One of his first examples was how phones have made things like watching movies so much easier. He describes a time when a film from Bollywood, Rok Sako To Rok Lo, was screened through mobile devices using a live screen casting. This was taking an old, familiar thing and giving it a new spin. Allowing mobile phones ability to access this movie made watching it an easier and more personalized experience. Phones are a big part of convergence because now we can change channels, take pictures, check the news, see the weather, listen to music, watch videos and so much more by just using our phones. Phones are making other devices, such as cameras and ipods, almost obsolete because who is going to by several devices when you can have one the does it all. Which led us to Jenkins’ idea of the Black Box.

He refers to the idea as The Black Box Fallacy and here is why. The Black Box is the idea of a single device being able to control all technology, kind of where the phone is heading, but this is impossible hence the Fallacy part of the name. The reason this would be impossible is mainly because technology is advancing and changing every single day. This device would be in a constant state of updating to try and keep up. The device would have to be able to do everything a computer, phone, xbox, playstation, cable box, etc. can do. How could the world even invent something with that much space for memory and processing? How could this device function fast and efficiently when it constantly has to update and keep up with advances? It would not be possible.

Convergence is not the idea that the old is becoming non-existent because the new is pushing it out of the way. It is the idea that old and new will come together to make something greater. Thanks to technology old ways of doing things will never be forgotten so the aim here is not to get rid of old technology. Let us face it they only way we made so many strides with technology is because the old technology existed in the first place. The reason so many people fear convergence is because so many people fear change and until we understand convergence people will always be afraid of it.

The Downfall

    Steven was honored to be part of a team working on a project as astonishing as AI.  He immediately realized that he was chosen for some of his distinct traits as were the others. He was expected to bring to the table was his background in engineering and building.  Steven was fine with this, he was just glad to be apart of something bigger than himself.  The only problem was that this would make him very over scheduled between sports, work, school, and now this what would he do.  Eventually he came to the conclusion to cut back on sleep and he’d be fine, but in the end this may just be the downfall of everything…

    Over a couple of weeks the project really started to come together.  Steven, Chris, Amber, and Josh all worked together great.  Thanks to the boss in charge Amber,  but after a few weeks and countless nights of lost sleep Steven started to feel the toll of his decision.  He knew he couldn’t sacrifice any time for sleep now his team was entering playoffs for volleyball and they needed him, he couldn’t call off work because numerous employees at Sheetz have come down with the flu, and he couldn’t skip a day on the project because they needed him with the completion of the project especially since the project was coming close to an end and the deadline was right around the corner.  What was he suppose to do, let all these people down?  No, he decided that he needed to tough it out and that he could sleep when he was dead.   

    After pulling a double shift at Sheetz, Steven realized that he could put in some extra time before he had to be at the volleyball championship at East Hills.  So he grabbed an extra large coffee and threw in some espresso and went to campus to work on his project. He told his team to meet him there fifteen minutes early to go to the game together.  Well to his demise his eyes started to get very heavy and soon he was asleep.  An hour later his volleyball team came storming in, in the process one of them spilled Steven’s coffee onto the computer without knowing.  They screamed for him to wake up they were all late for the game. 

    They all ran over to the game and got ready.  They play the hardest game ever, but came out on top. After the game they all realized that their phones were acting weird.  As they went outside for a team picture they saw that UPJ’s campus was buzzing with excitement. As they neared it Steven’s worse nightmare came true.  He saw that the AI project must of gotten a mind of it’s own and all he could think about was where was Amber, Chris, and Josh.  They all need to help destroy what the four of them had created.