Hi. Here is my reflection:
Intro: The first part of my reflection is written about the second slide of my portion of the Pecha Kucha, which discusses virtual gaming and how it’s becoming more like real life (isn’t that ridiculous?).
A Walk Through A Slide
For my second slide, I chose a screenshot of a Sims game, which is a virtual world on your computer that you run completely. I had began discussing the permanent affects of becoming virtual gaming on the previous slide, and I wanted to continue discussing that in further detail. I chose this screenshot in particular because this game really highlights how the world of virtual gaming is becoming more in touch with the real world, outside of the computer.
This picture compliments the narrative for this slide by showing how virtual games mimic real life, and depict it in their own digital way. The screenshot of the Sims game shows the interior of a house, complete with furniture, a variety of rooms, and even a character. It’s clear that companies are trying their best to make people feel as if they are in the real world when they play these kinds of games. David Perry’s video, “Are Games Better Than Real Life?” perfectly describes the point I was trying to reach on this slide, which is why I decided to site him. One of the statements made by Perry is that video games will “be more lush, complex, emotional experiences- more involving and meaningful to some than real life,” (Perry). I picked the word ‘lush’ out from this statement to put in my narrative, because I feel like that word describes the caliber of what level of reality companies are trying to reach in their games.
This slide represents one of two main sections in my narrative- virtual gaming and Twitter. Throughout my 5-slide presentation, I tried to explain how the use of these two things have permanent outcomes. Slide 2 fits in because it gives a good visual as to how serious virtual gaming is becoming as time goes by. The picture I chose and the narrative correlate, giving a brief description on how virtual games might eventually feel more real than anything offline. It continues to build on the first slide, where I stated how virtual gaming can turn into an addiction. The more ‘lush’ games become, the more they will intrigue people and capture their attention. The ideas in this slide were added on to the first slide to reiterate how virtual gaming can pull people away form the real world. Overall, I don’t think I would’ve done anything different on this slide, but if I had the chance to revise it, I would further search for a screenshot of a ‘virtual child,’ to really get the point across that people take this world of gaming seriously.
Intro: The second part of my reflection talks about what I learned about my blog topic, which is permanency. It discusses how my perspective on the Web 2.0 has changed through the research and readings done in and out of class.
What I Learned About My Blog Topic
When my group picked ‘permanence’ for our blog topic, I honestly didn’t know how much there would be to say about that. It was a topic that I had never studied, and I was pleasantly surprised when I found that I was able to relate different articles from class and other articles I found on my own to that topic. It seemed as if it was too narrow, but overall, I learned a lot of different ways that going online can cause permanency problems. I gained a new perspective on the topic, realizing that everything we post will always be stuck in cyberspace, and read what some of the possible consequences are and how permanency online has affected others.
I am an avid Twitter user, and have been since my sophomore year of high school, which was 4 years ago. In my time on the site, I have seen a lot of horrible things posted, such as negative comments towards other people and very personal, disturbing thoughts. A lot of people don’t have a filter, whether they’re online or offline, and say whatever they feel, despite the possible consequences. Through my research, the readings in class, and separate articles that I found, I realized that everything will say will always be stuck in cyberspace. Even if you delete a tweet, anyone could have read it, saved it, or taken a picture of it. Steven Johnson’s article, “How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live,” was one that I used for my Pecha Kucha, and it really broadened my ideas on permanence. He stated that Twitter “added a second layer of discussion and brought a wider audience into what would have been a private exchange,” (Johnson). I cited this in my narrative because it gave me a new perspective to permanency on the web. This statement taught me that nothing is private in cyberspace, and every single thing you say, even if it’s directed towards a specific person, will make it’s way around to other people. Throughout most of the articles we had to read, including the article about filter bubbles and Margaret Atwood’s piece, I found a common theme that shows the correlation between permanency and Web 2.0. The theme is that every portion of the Web will always be stuck there, so it’s important to have a filter online and think before you type.
After doing so much work on this topic, my perspective on the Internet truly has changed. I am definitely going to think twice before I post a Facebook status or a tweet, because I don’t want anything to come back to haunt me years down the road. Doing this research has given me a much better outlook on how to be careful, or I might regret posting something small one day.
Love, Hope.
Always There, Never Gone 