3D Print

Last week in class we made our very own 3D prints. I have never done anything like this before, so I was very excited. Dr. Plothe started Mondays class by showing us pictures of his lizard wearing a hat. He then passed the miniature hat around to the class and told us there was something unique about. He designed it from scratch and then printed it out. He showed us the different shapes he used to construct this hat and explained the texture to us. He then told us we would be making our very own unique 3D Prints. We used the design tool website called Tinkercad.com to create our designs. The only guidelines we had was the size the print was supposed to be. We were allowed to be as creative as possible. Using Tinkercad was difficult to learn at first, however, the longer you used it the easier it became.

On Wednesday, we got to go to the 3D Print lab to print the designs we made on Tinkercad. Dr. Plothe explained the different types of printers and how they work. We learned the plastic used to make these prints was chosen because it has the ability to heat and cool very quickly. The plastic is heated up and used to make the 3D model. The class then got to see different intricate designs made with the 3D Printers and learn about the materials used to make them. After we learned a little bit more about the 3D printers we were finally allowed to upload our designs to be printed. I was told my design would take approximately two hours once it started printing, and I am very excited to be able to pick it up, from the lab, in a few days.

Big Data

Last week in my Communications Technology skills class we discussed media and learned what big data is. Big data is the collection of all data, and it dominates. It helps us define issues going on around us. Big data is data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing application software is inadequate to deal with them. Big data has three main categories: data volume, data velocity, and data variety. Data velocity is how fast the data can move while data volume is how much data there is. Data variety is the types of data: is it a database, photo, video, or audio?

After we discussed what big data was and what the different types of big data there is, Dr. Plothe asked the question: What does all this mean form me? Companies are predicting behavior based on the data they receive. If you look at a certain clothing website a number of times on your laptop, you will begin to see ads for that website while on a different website. If you look up things in a different language a few times, you computer will start to generate more things in that language for you because it begins to think that is your first language. If you are talking on the phone and mention something a number of times, your phone will remember that, and it will generate it for you more easily. Our technology is always watching and listening. Hypertext allows us to find things easier and takes us to another reality. We are constantly producing data and that is why Dr. Plothe believes the government is spying on us.

Social Media

Last week, in class, we learned about social media and its effects on us. We learned that media is the message and the way we receive the message matters. Each form of social media gives a different message and not everyone uses the same kind of social media outlets. Social media is important because it helps with Natural disaster crisis management, Collective action, Political movements, Health communication, Behavioral psychology, and Tourism management. Social media changed the model for communication. We learned that news went from being shared in a broadcast model, meaning one person speaking to many people, to a peer to peer model, meaning a group of people speaking to a group of people. A peer to peer model means everyone is in on the conversation. We are now able to report things as they are happening. Big news may end up on twitter before a major news outlet is even able to pick up the story. Facebook changed the way we communicate, Twitter changed everything. Twitter is a major news sources for all over the world. It is an easy way to communicate and share news. You have a telepresence when using twitter which means you are able to be somewhere without actually being there. Millions of people all over the world share things everyday, on social media, for everyone to see.

Game Design

Last week in class we continued to talk about gaming and what it means to different people. The lecture was trying to get us to think of how games affect us and how they make us feel. What does this game mean to you? A game is the action of play in a rule bound system. We learned why we need rules in a video game. It is because real life has rules, and like real life, video games have physics and rules. Sometimes the physics are not equal to real life physics, however they are still there because video games have to have them just like we do. The A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) puts them in and creates the rules. The A.I. is anything manufactured and has nonhuman intelligence. Anderson explains, in his article, how A.I. can learn all the same traits a human can. Technology is beginning to be made with morals, ethics, and intelligence. Computers can know right from wrong and develop a system of moral behaviors, or machine ethics. This conversation led to the big question: Does nonhuman technology or robots have souls? Dr. Plothe tried to explain it as if all of the technology you own has a piece of you in it therefor it has a soul. Dr. Plothe believes that the way technology is growing and changing, in about 15 years’ robots will start living like humans and eventually people will except them as one of us. He thinks within our lifetime we will have to make the decision if whether or not robots have human rights. We will have to decide if these human-like robots will have the right to vote. Even now there are people who are intimately involved with these human-like robots. Even though the thought of this seems taboo now, it is very possible for robots interacting with humans to become the social norm. Technology is a huge part of societies life and we don’t know what kind of technology our future holds.

Game Lab Session

Last week, Dr. Plothe hosted a game lab session and asked us to write a blog about it. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to go home for a few days and was not able to attend the game lab. So instead, I asked my friends in the class about their experience in the session, so I was still able to write this blog. 

Before I heard anything about the game lab session, I though this session was going to teach us how to use the technology, Stencyl, so we would better know how to make our own video game for our class assignment. I was very wrong about this. Instead, four people, who were ready to play this mystery game, were brought into a room with a huge tv. He told them they were going to be playing a game. When my friends told me this part, the first thought that popped into my head was they were probably going to play a game Dr. Plothe made using the technology, Stencly, like we were going to do. Again, I was wrong about this. When they first started telling me about the game I was somewhat confused, and I still kind of am. They took turns stamping passports in a different country, and that was it, just stamping passports. When I first heard this, I did not understand the purpose of the game at all. Then I was told each level there were certain rules to stamping the passports. They had to either check ID, expiration, ticket, and more. So the stamping of the passports became more difficult. Again, I am still kind of confused. I then learned that while this is their job, to stamp passports, they were also working to feed their families, so they had to stamp as many passports as possible without messing up. I’m assuming to earn money to feed their family. If you do not do your job correctly you don’t earn money. I believe the ontology, or purpose, of the game was to see what it is like to have a regular work life with difficult responsibilities. The purpose was to go to a normal job that pays little money and put the money towards your family. I learned that the very little money they did earn in this game went towards stuff their family needed such as food or rent. One of my friends told me that at times their children would get sick, so they had to chose between paying rent or getting medicine.I think the main purpose of the game was to see what it is like to struggle providing for your family with a low income job. Overall the game seemed like it would have been very interesting and I think I would have enjoyed playing it.

Video Games

The multibillion dollar industry, video games, are easily competitive with the largest media in monetary terms. The opening days sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops III was more than $550 Million worldwide. This exceeded the largest-ever weekend movie gross through 2016, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Video games are games with visual and usually audio stimulus that are played through a digitally-mediated system. Video games are available as software for other digital systems, standalone systems, or software for gaming specific systems.

In class we learned that a game is the action of play in a rule bound system and the game space is how we think about games. We learned about Narratology, which asks the question: Why is the story like this? Narratology in game theory is one of two ways of thinking of games. The importance of computer and video games on telling a story or ‘cyberdrama’ rather than simply entertainment. The idea behind this academic viewpoint is that games can be a powerful new medium used in a variety of ways. We also learned about the Ontology of a game which is its purpose and asks the question: What is the meaning of the game? Doctor Plothe then asked the question: Why do we need rules in video games? We need rules in video games because real life has rules. Video games have physics even if it is not “real” physics. The artificial intelligence (AI) creates the rules and puts them into the video games. Ludology is the study of rules, procedures, and mechanics. The mechanics are things such as shooting, throwing, and catching. Or how the ball gets where it goes. Doctor Plothe assigned us a project to make a video game. We will be using the media outlet, Stencyl, to construct a working video game without the use of codes. We will construct this video game using everything we learned in class last week.

Other New Technologies

With Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) imagination can become more real than ever imagined. A person can now be transported to the other side of the world without ever leaving their homes, see different clothes on their bodies in a dressing room mirror without ever having to actually change, or catching a digital firefly in their hand. These technologies are coming to the masses. You can now purchase on Amazon what used to only be available in amusement parks or research labs. Peter Rubin provides a comparison between VR, AR, and MR. “In virtual reality, everything is make-believe. In augmented reality, there are virtual objects overlaid on top of real objects, but they’re just little suspended movies- you can’t interact. Once you can interact with those no-really-there objects, that’s the realm of mixed reality.” Augmented reality is what we are experiencing in class with our Blippar projects. We are able to add different elements to a site or location only to be seen through our mobile devices. When I hold my phone up to our popular football field, Kyle Field, stacks of money appear and it takes me to a link of on of my popular Instagram pictures of me standing at the field. Dr. Plothe made a Blippar of the printer in the classroom that allows the users to find out the printer does not work. We would not know this without using the Augmented Reality app. This technology is cool because we are able to experience things around us that we see everyday in an entire new way.

Another technology that was once only used in the military is now being used by everyone. Drones are an aircraft that are remotely piloted. They can be any size, from a tiny aircraft that is designed to hold a GoPro, to a huge plane. Drones can go where we are not able to go. Whether it is because the target is out of reach or dangerous, Drones can enter a wildfire or toxic spill. They are often used in business sectors such as agriculture, public safety, and media, but also used recreationally for hobbies and photography. Some of these recreational drones cost as little as twenty dollars, while others can cost as much as two-thousand dollars.

There have been many policy and legal issues surrounding the use of Drones in the United States. Both hobbyists and professional drone operators must follow the long list of regulations put into place. These regulations include how to label a drone and where it can and cannot be flown. Recreational drone users have been caught spying on neighbors and peeping into their windows. Some people have been caught shooting or knocking down these drones. However, it is actually illegal to shoot down a drone even if it is hovering over your property. It is highly unethical to spy on your neighbors, however interfering with public safety and airports/airplanes is just extremely dangerous. In 2015 there were seven-hundred near misses with an airplane and a drone. This is why it is illegal to fly your drone over four-hundred feet or within twenty-five feet of people. Because of this, as drone usage spreads, it is expected for laws and regulations to become more strict and to spread as well.

The Internet

The internets significance on human culture is outstanding. It has pretty much infiltrated every single aspects of society. According to internet Live Stats, 2016, “nearly 3.4 billion people, around the world, use the internet”. The internet has become an important part of everyday life as people have come to rely on it for work, education, relationships, and entertainment. The internet can best be described in three components. It is a “Worldwide computing system using a common means of linking hardware and transmitting digital information, a community of people using a communication technology, and a globally distributed system of information” (DeFleur and Dennis, 20002, Pg. 219). It is also important to note that the internet does not act alone in providing us with seemingly endless information-seeking and communication opportunities. An important part of the technology is the World Wide Web which allows users to access that network in a user friendly way. The World Wide Web uses an audio-visual format and a graphical interface that is easier to use than remembering lines of a computer code.

The internet started out as a military project in the 1960’s during the cold war. It is now accessible to anyone who has a compatible device. The United States wanted to maintain a communication system that would still be functional if the United States were to be attacked by missiles, and existing radio transmitters and telephone polls were destroyed. The solution to this problem was to transmit information in small bits so it could travel quickly and be resent if its path was disrupted.

The birth of the internet occurred in 1968 when ARPANET was founded. ARPANET users also discovered that in addition to sending information for collaboration and research you could also use it for personal communication, which started the individual email accounts. USENET was developed in 1976 to serve as a way for college students to communicate through computer networks.

During the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the internet became one of the most rapidly adopted consumer products in history. The radio took 38 years to attract 50 million Americans, however, the internet took only four years to attract that many.

The internet is extremely important for social interaction. With the rise in social networking sites, people use the internet create new relationships and maintain existing bonds with friends and family. Research has concluded that internet activities such as games or social media can improve online and face-to-face peer relationships. Online communication can have a positive influence on an adolescents’ sense of identity and the quality of their friendships. The internet has helped people of all generations and will continue to do so throughout the years to com, until the next big thing happens.

Cinema Technologies

Cinema originated as an independent medium which lied in the development of mass communication technologies that evolved for other purposes. The early experiments in series photography for capturing motion were an important precursor to cinemas emergence. Edward Muybridge created an apparatus, called a Zoopraxiscop, which was used to project photographic images in motion for the first time. The early years of cinema were ones of invention and exploration. The first two decades of cinema, almost all films were photographed outdoors. By the second decade of the 20th century, there were dozens of movie studios operating in the United States and across the world. A highly specialized industry grew in southern California, and now the heart of American Cinema is beating in Hollywood, California.

Movies were gradually moving towards depicting real life, however, real life is not in black and white, and experiments with color film making began. In 1932, technicolor introduced a three color dye transfer process. This slowly revolutionized moviemaking and dominated color film production in Hollywood, California until the 1950’s.

With the rise of CGI’s and the desire to cut costs, celluloid film is quickly becoming an endangered medium for making movies. More filmmakers continue to use digital cinema cameras that are capable of creating high quality images without the expense, time, and chemicals required to shoot and process on film. Digital production presents a significant savings for low-budget and independent filmmakers. “The 2009 horror film Paranormal Activity had an initial production budget of $15,000″ (Lally, 2009). “It generated close to $200 Million worldwide, making it the number one most profitable movie based on return on investment” (The Numbers, 2014). The changeover from film to digital is inevitable because it offers many economic, environmental, and practical benefits. This is why nearly eighty percent of all movie theaters in the United States no longer handle film. With digital cinema cameras and the new non-linear editing systems having the capability of working with the digital footage at full resolution, it us now possible to shoot, edit, and project a movie without ever having to leave the digital environment.

Television

The transition from analog to digital globally, there are multiple new technological developments for the television industry. The video display for television is simultaneously getting larger and smaller with the flatscreen. The screen is getting larger but the television is getting smaller. Many of the flatscreen televisions are also “smart” televisions that can easily display media sources and websites such as Facebook or Pinterest. “The democratization of “television” production generated by the explosion in the number of devices that can record digital video has created a world where 100 hours of video are uploaded every minutes to the YouTube.com site and over 6 billion hours are viewed there each month. Eight percent of YouTube viewers live outside the U.S., with content available in 70 languages, and half of all viewing globally is on mobil devices” (Grant, 66).

Increasingly common features in mobile phones are digital television displays and high-definition video recording. Mobile phones are used by 5 billion of the worlds population 7.3 billion. “The increasing ubiquity of digital video recording capability also bodes well for the global free expression and exchange of ideas via the internet” (Grant, 67) The problem with this, however, is it makes the posting of of hateful videos from groups seeking to incite fear in online audiences possible. Technology and social media is a fine line to walk because of the hateful things that are now able to be posted.

The most significant change in television broadcast standards since color images were added in the 1960’s is the global conversion from analog to digital. It combines higher resolution image quality with improved multichannel audio, and the new “smart” televisions have the ability to seamlessly integrate Internet-delivered “television” programing into these displays. Television has changed a lot over the last 60 years. From black and white to color in the 1960’s and from analog to digital in the 2010’s.