Notes on “Virtual Nation” news documentary
(Hi ladies- since I was at home today as my son is sick, I decided to watch the documentary and take down some notes of what stood out for me… an idea that came up as I was watching. I began to wonder about the research that is currently being done- it seems very quantitative from the way it is described in the documentary…I wonder how a qualitative approach to these same ‘issues or problems or questions’ could be implemented? Perhaps this is a guiding question we give the students as they look at a piece of this?? Just a thought….hope these notes help! Linda)
Clip #2: NASA Research
-this research is all about multitasking
-demonstrates more of a quantitative style of research
Clip #3: Korean Study
-video game addiction
-again, stats are stated, quantitative research
-clip then highlights a 2 week treatment camp called ‘internet rescue’
-this is a more qualitative look…if this were studied, the long term effectiveness of the camp/intervention
-social issues addressed
Clip #4: reporter at home in Brooklyn
-son uses blogs
-immigrants to technical nation…those who have not grown up with technology vs. those who have (the natives)
-children in Bronx school- principal feels ‘technology is like oxygen’
-multitasking is welcomed at the Bronx school
“the world has sped up in many ways and school has not” quote from the principal
Clip #5: NEA study on reading and writing cited
-again stats are cited
-writing in paragraphs- then students get distracted…have little bursts and snippets in writing but no connection between thoughts…no big picture
Clip #6: North America “the verbs” vs. “the nouns” – learning may stay the same but the teaching differs
-there are gains and losses as we move into new realms (as in our past…moving from the visual language to written language, we lost memories)
-“issue of distraction” not a new issue – another social phenomenon emerging – need to be open minded with a sense of new exploration
Clip #7: testimonials – stories of people on how technology has impacted their lives
-Bubbi’s kitchen cooking show (83 yr old woman who reaches out to people through the internet and her cooking)
-world of war craft game- both examples of social phenomena that people use to reach over to the ‘other side’ – connecting with others through technology
-games give people a place to be someone else
-games are more powerful than books for fantasy
-meeting online and attending gaming conventions- shows the urge to connect with other people
-technology was not isolating them but giving them another way to connect
Clip #8: Second life creator
-people can become someone else in second life
-creator worked to rewrite the rules of interaction
-he believes that through virtual realities it solves the crisis of the technology crisis of being alone…does it eradicate this issue?
Clip #9: IBM clip- meetings are now virtual
-reporter went to the IBM building and found no one there- everyone works from home/hotel room/somewhere else and logs in
-growing market for research – to see how virtual realities impact us, how the virtual and the real world are becoming blurred
-impact even more profound when our avitars look just like us – research that is being funded by US government (military is also very interested)
-most stunning research is that being done with children “swimming with whales” research – children will believe virtual experiences (children that have virtually swam with whales believe they actually did this)
Clip #10: Military – treating vets for Post traumatic stress disorder through virtual
Realities
“technologies that re-write the rules of the game” – drone planes
-these planes are manned by pilots in the US while the planes are flown in Iraq
-what are the consequences of these air strikes? On the pilots? On the people in the country being fired upon?
Army experience Centre: for kids 13 and over
-soft sell to recruiting…kids can come in and play army games for free
-soldiers mingle and talk with the kids
-criticism- army is using the ‘adrenaline rush’ of the games to get kids to join up
-protests- army has blurred the lines between reality and the virtual world
“war is not a game”
-kids disagree- they seem to have the ability to distinguish between the virtual world and real world of war
Final Clip:
School highlighted- a school that uses gaming
“gaming as a lens for the entire curriculum”
-game world- children are as engaged in games as they have ever been in books, if not more so in games
-not all agree with this claim
-time will tell as the children grow up
-resistance to change is futile
thanks Linda for this synopsis - it was helpful for me to review what I had seen. I think I like clip #8 and #9. Haven't connected to the questions yet but that will be next step.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda and Dale,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your notes Linda. As Dale said it served as a synopsis. When I watched the video I was disturbed to hear that in the future we may not use books the way we do now.
Was our purpose in using this video clip/or the news article to share a case study to discuss with the class?