“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”

Welcome back proud deacon! May the light of the Good Blogs guide your way through this fourth week of educational madness and turmoil. Hail great familial, hail the Good Blogs!

Digital Literacies have set the bar for one of the largest conglomeration of public knowledge, data, literacies, and communication in the history of our species. ‘Access’ is grand and open to all those who have the tools. Interestingly a large portion of the population even knows how to build these tools being computers. Even something like this, the creation of tools for access to literacy, was not possible and currently isn’t since a massive portion of the population cannot create an effective pencil. It sounds ridiculous, but the pencil has become so widely available that it blends into the background of education as an ‘always there’ tool, even if its users have no idea how it’s created and how to make one. We live in a time where those who have the knowledge and have access to the tools can create their own ‘tool’ of digital literacy… Unless of course you’re an Apple person.

Even ‘small’ instances like the hashtag, though begrudged by some, has led to millions of ‘strangers’ from all over the planet to be lead to singular point in time. Millions of ‘users’ tweeted about “#istandwithahmed”. Even if these ‘users’ didn’t ‘give’ to the cause, their multitude of voices were amplified to be recognized on the international stage as a singular instance of mass unification. That strength, that power, could not exist in a pre-digital world. What would have been a story told to us by ‘old media’ became a part of a generation through a simple symbol. That is an incredible amount of access that is all sponsored by “Twitter” which has unintentionally, at least at its conception, has created the framework for a new era of mass communication and political amplification. This digital literacy has granted an immense amount of access to those who otherwise would not. Their voices are now heard.

However, our new digital literacy is ‘sponsored’ by a new array of those who have the ability to deny complete access. A latest example was a video game called “P.T.” which was a teaser trailer equivalent to a new video game coming later. It was an interactive teaser of things to come, the first of its kind in the video gaming community. It not only set the bar for future advertising, it also created one of the largest public fervors in recent history. “P.T.” had unintentionally become a part of video gaming history as a singular point of community and discussion about its symbols, meaning, and overall craziness. It was a horror game that captured everyone’s imagination and hysteria and unified it. However, this piece of digital literacy can no longer be accessed. It still exists out there in hard drives of those who still kept it, but as for the public this game is no longer available. That is because the company behind “P.T.” denied access wholesale. You can no longer find it and ‘access’ it for your own consumption because a corporation decided to have an internal squabble and erase the work of one of their employees. An internal squabble led to the deletion of a piece of digital literacy that made history.

This is one example of the fears of our all-digital future. Access to digital literacies can be denied and hidden within servers and hard drives. These sponsors of the new digital age hold an incredible amount of ‘access power’ when it comes to the spread and sharing of digital literacy. Companies, now being the new digital sponsors to literacy, can deny access to millions of users if something as sinister as political goals pushed them across the line. Written literacy has the benefit of being a physical piece that can be stored and held. It’s a rather freaky thought to contemplate as we grow more accustomed to our literacies being digital. It won’t ever reach dystopian levels but examples exist of companies denying access and are infamous reminders of the fragility of digital literacy.

“So, you’ve returned to claim your city, hero.”

I Blog I Die I Blog Again. ALL HAIL our new blog overlords! They provide us with great sustenance in the form of liquid letters and entertainment.
May they guide us to the great white, sterile gates of APPLE.

So I actually interviewed my mom for this assignment. I was extremely curious, not only by the lack of computers, but also of where my mom grew up. They didn’t have the kind of finances that she has today, so its interesting to see where priorities were set when money was tight. Also, the lack of computers, and even in their DOS state, is extremely fascinating to record.

1. Try to think of your earliest memories of writing and reading.  What do you remember of reading and writing before you began school?  Who helped you with it and what was that like?

I remember 1^st grade being significant for learning to write.  There was no option for kindergarten when I was young.  I remember the “Dick and Jane” books in school!  I had two older siblings, so we read a lot at home and made trips to the library before I was in school and as I was growing up.  I followed their lead as far as reading and writing.  We played house, restaurant, and bank as a kid, so we wrote out pretend menus and pretend checks, etc. for each other and our friends.

2. What kinds of writing did you see your parents, siblings, and other family members doing as you were growing up?  What did they read, where, and when?

My Dad ALWAYS read the newspaper.  My Mom read books of all kinds.  She took us kids to the library.  I remember my Mom reading “Make Way for Ducklings” and “Curious George”.  We did not buy books, because we could not afford them.  We always had access to the local library.  My Mom always encouraged us to read.  Evenings were the best reading/playing times.  We didn’t watch much tv when my Dad was home and watching the news or Hee Haw in the evenings.

3. What stories did your parents tell you about their own efforts to learn to read and write?  What kinds of values did they place on reading and writing?

My Mom was an only child that grew up on a farm in no-where’s-ville, Nebraska!  She read a lot as a kid and she ALWAYS encouraged us to read ALL the time.  Always took us to the local library!  My Mom would correct our speech and she would help with school writing assignments.  She had been a teacher in a one room school-house before she had her family.  She also did substitute teaching as I was growing up.  I don’t remember my Dad talking much about the importance of reading/writing skills.  Not sure I ever saw him read a book, but he always read the newspaper!! .

4. How did reading and writing change as you entered elementary school?  What did you do with it?

I remember reading through series of books, taking tests as each book was finished.  You could move up if you passed the tests of comprehension. I thought it was fun and challenging!

5. What are you asked to do with reading and writing at this point in your lives?

I am constantly writing for my job now!  I have to write emails daily.  These emails need to be professional since I am communicating with clients and regulators. This is probably the most important form of communication I use now.  I need to make sure I am using good sentence structure and not using the incorrect synonym!!  My job entails reading instructions from regulatory documents, interpreting the information, and preparing a field request for the technician to do his job in the field.

6. When you were growing up, how much school reading and school writing was done with computers?  What kinds of things did you do?  What values did your teachers place on computer literacy?

I did not touch a computer until I was in college and that was a basic computer programming class that involved codes and if/then statements.  I dropped the class!  That was 1981!

7. In the next ten years, what will reading and writing become?  What skills and understandings about online literacy will people need to have?  Why?

The emphasis for writing skills in the professional working force is already strong.  People in business NEED to have professional writing skills!  Writing is becoming the most common form of communication.  Professionals are expected to write professionally!  Reading numerous communications and comprehending all the information is a must for professionals.  When professionals can’t write well, they will slowly be left behind in their careers.  Online literacy is vital for professional careers.  The Internet is a vital tool that all professionals should be proficient with and keep themselves updated in the fast passed electronic world.  I do love computers now!!  And, I think the Internet is so great for researching so much information!  Gone are the days of books of Encyclopedias that had to be updated!!  Encyclopedias were expensive, too!!   I love having so much information at my fingertips!  AND, I love all the map aps, so when traveling, I can find out so much about what is near me and where I would like to go!  It makes it easier to travel and be adventuresome!!!

“You’ve returned? Kept you waiting huh?”

WHY HELLO EVERYONE!

Welcome back to ‘The Blog’. In light of the recent attack, and victory, of ‘The Blogs’ we now commemorate our new overlords with supplemental reading! Because…you know…ruling the world can be a little boring…that’s a thing right?

Anyways, today we are discussing the writings of Mary Hamilton and the idea of “Situated Literacies”. This presents the idea of literacy in context like placement, audience, time period, intention, etc. In the article Hamilton cites photographs as one of the best example of a “Situated Literacy” since it can capture an example of literacy in context, i.e. people reading newspapers on the bus. Ironically, this same kind of capture of a running gag, or an image that a group can identify with, would be a predecessor to the modern day ‘meme’.

‘Memes’ are an extremely powerful form of a ‘Situated Literacy’. Simplistic at first glance, memes can seem relatively small and randomized, however, further digging into a memes conception can then turn into layers upon layers of references and context to multiple ‘mini-cultures’, or ‘categorized’ audiences. For example, the meme “Keep Calm and…” has now grown to such length that it has become recognizable to this generation and a few of those following. Even if the reaction is not positive, like a groan or snort when seeing it, these individuals are taking part in a ‘unification’ of an entire group of individuals who identify with that image. This hasn’t been a recent development either. A ‘simple’ meme today can ‘unify’ a group as much as the saying “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, can as well. Whether that generation was aware or not, one sentence became a part of their identity. It became a part of their image and is something we recognize even if it were phased into the background of a generation, it now exists as a part of society. This is true with the meme “Keep calm and…” which has now, for better or worse, become a piece of our generation’s identity, a footnote in our history.

This, FINALLY I know, brings us to Hamilton’s article. The ‘sentence’ I chose to relate to my image is on page 29 in the very first paragraph, “There was a great deal of literacy in the background environment of the images which was not directly referred to in the narrative of the news item. In some cases it is obvious that the literacy elements had been intentionally included in the image, to identify people, locations and affiliations. In other cases they appear to be entirely incidental” (Hamilton 29). This ‘sentence’ is basically telling us how pieces of an image are picked up on by differing individuals. The news may have not caught specific literacies in their own images, but others will and they will do so because they identify with that piece. Hamilton even points out that the news agency was doing it on purpose, most likely so they could have a wide range audience, multiple ‘mini-cultures’, to identify with image and therefore create a connection with the agency. It’s used here as a way to get an audience’s attention, and to probably increase views. Specific people will look at the images, identify to a specific piece of it, and with their interest peaked, read the following article or story. It’s a small way to sell newspapers as well, where reaching out to as wide an audience as possible can include this practice of using ‘Situated Literacies’.  Unintentionally this article is doing the exact same thing. Hamilton looked into these images looking for a specific piece of it and reacted to that piece of literacy were others might not have. She identified with them because she is studying literacy studies, she is a part of a culture of individuals who would all show interest in these studies and pieces of the image showing specific literacies that they would identify with.

This, ALSO, brings us to my image. Simple at first glance, it’s an image of a dude making a weird face with the literacy “It is customary to introduce yourself by grabbing the other person’s crotch”. Simple, right? However, there are multiple layers and pieces that are tapping into multiple cultures that would identify with specific pieces to this image. First off the setting shows, to most people, a dude standing in a dark room with a loading bar and some text. However, that loading bar is the key, as is the title to the bottom right. To a specific culture of individuals, those being ‘Metal Gear Solid’ fans, this image would be seen a parody to the loading in ‘Metal Gear Solid 4’. That taps into one culture, but there are other pieces here that other cultures would identify with as well. The man’s name is actually Drew Scanlon, who is a writer on a website called “Giant Bomb”. This “Giant Bomb” community would recognize him and identify with him as a piece of an image. There is also the title “Metal Gear Scanlon 4” which is a series on “Giant Bomb’s” website which would also be identified with by those who are fans of “Giant Bomb”. Finally, there is also the grey text which actually refers to one of the videos in the “Metal Gear Scanlon” series. It refers to the villain ‘Volgon’, who is infamous in the “Metal gear” fan base for randomly grabbing people’s crotches as his custom. It also refers to a running gag on the website “Giant Bomb” that sparked from that video. In conclusion, what was at first just a referential goofy image, A.K.A. a meme, actually contains multiple references from different cultures and unifies them under one image that those members of those cultures will identify with. To make it even better, this image is from an announcement video of the continuation of the “Metal Gear Scanlon” series. So this is technically an ad that is tapping into multiple cultures, unifying them under a common interest, and guiding them to their video and website. This is exactly like the news agencies from Hamilton’s article, who all were trying to tap into specific cultures growing views.

This image does something more however, as it actually becomes a piece of those cultures. “Giant Bomb” fans will recognize and associate with the image unifying that group, but it also does the same thing with “Metal Gear” fans since that fan base will identify with pieces of the image unifying those individuals as well. This image has unintentionally become a unifying image for both cultures, and can be used to unify people who otherwise would have never known each other’s common interest. They will identify each other as ‘one of them’, a part of the same group. Even though the video, associated with this image, was essentially an ad it has become a part of certain culture’s identities and has become a unifying tool for others to connect and relate with. It has become a piece of ‘Situated Literacy’ that unifies groups under a common interest.

“So here it is, the first blog post…my god.”

WHY HELLO EVERYONE!
Uh, so hello and welcome to the verbal wave that is my brain at 8:30 in the morning. It’s actually really weird, because I have never actually blogged before so who knows how long this is going to go on for…hopefully not for-e-var.

Anyways, I don’t really know where to begin with my first blog about my story. I don’t know how to start it and I don’t know what I could say that would be super interesting, except maybe talking about Faulkner and how his writings have changed me and made me want to become an English major, but that’s only a recent event within this year. So I suppose that the end of that story and how I’m here in Chico. So nothing particularly interesting…

However, I can tell you what I’m looking forward to. Currently I’m waiting for the release of “Metal Gear Solid V” and “Mad Max”, two video games that I hope will last me for the next couple of months. These two will be coming out September 1^st, and the reason why I tell this is because I grew up with video games.

The first video game console me and my siblings played on was a Nintendo 64, my older brother and sister ‘shared’ an original PlayStation before that, but that’s beside the point since the Nintendo 64 was the thing that we played together. It was our sibling rivalries in the form of ‘Mario Cart’ or adventure in the form of “Donkey Kong 64”, of which I still have fond memories of. Later on, when our sister had moved out of the house, my brother had introduced me to a little game called “Halo” on the Xbox, and we were hooked. “Halo” had become our next form of sibling rivalry and play, and it had also unintentionally opened the door to my great love and ‘belief’ in video games.

I remember getting an Xbox for Christmas one year, since my brother was moving out and taking his. I remember the times of inviting friends over and system-linking our Xbox’s so no one could ‘screen peek’ and cheat in a game of no actual in world prize, except bragging rights which could be argued more valuable than gold itself. I never had a lot of money so birthdays and Christmas were that much sweeter since it always meant a new game. A new rivalry to begin between friends, a new adventure of puzzles and platforming, and a new story.

That was the lasting effect of video games. A story that grabbed you and wouldn’t let go. It was impossible to compare the feeling to that of the passive observing of books, shows, or movies where a story is told to you. Video games opened a book for you and invited you to jump in. The story was ‘you’, or at least a story you were active in how it played out or if the end would ever come. The world created was open to explore and discover. It hooked me in and it has not let go and I don’t know if it ever will, to such an extent that I kind of hope it never will.

Now, you may be wondering why I described my life with video games. Well it’s because, like from our reading with Szwed, video games are the thing I read and write about the most. I read a surplus of reviews about what people thought about an upcoming video game, or about news in the video gaming world. I even read critical analysis of specific video games and their background themes. Szwed also shows us why we consume what we consume and I consume video games because I enjoy being immersed in a world that would otherwise not exist or even be impossible to exist. This then brings me to what I write which is about video games and ‘sort of’ reviews about them. There is something addicting to reviewing an experience with a crafted world that, I don’t think, will ever go away.

Szwed talks about the power of what people read and write and what they gain from what they read and write. This, to me, was the most interesting since it describes the idea of the creation of mini-cultures where people build their lives around a specific medium. People come together in celebration of “Harry Potter” as others do in the celebration of video games. It such a weird idea that entertainment creates an area for people to, who otherwise would never meet each other, convene.

It’s a fascinating idea that will always be fun to mull around with, and while I do that I highly recommend that others mull around with a video game called “Kentucky Route Zero”. Trust me, it’s as ambiguous as the title lets on and it is an incredible story, one that will immerse you. 

Until the next blog just know I will be playing all the Metal Gear!
-JD Richgels :D