readings: Everything Bad Is Good For You (part 2)

Johnson makes an interesting argument in Part 1 for the increasing complexity of entertainment media, and links it to a purported increasing trend in IQ. It's possible. I just need to see it presented more scientifically with data, confidence intervals, other variables, etc. before I buy in. (I need to pursue some of those endnotes. Wish they had been footnotes--I noticed them too late.)

While I remained somewhat skeptical, I found myself a little annoyed with Johnson near the end, when he suddenly:

• bemoans the loss of patience and attention span to read a long novel or book (p. 185-188),
  
• quotes Dr. Spock, encouraging parents to "foster in [their] children a love of reading and the printed word from the start," (p. 188) and
  
• appeases skeptics, luddites and naysayers with the old fallback, "everything in moderation." (p. 193)
  

C'mon, have some guts! Don't back down! Either our increasing IQ's are attributable to increasingly complex entertainment media, or they're not. I see the bone you're tossing at us librarians, and I'm not falling for it! (Actually, I am. But I think Johnson's argument would have been stronger if he didn't serve it up with a nice big plate of waffles.)

SG asks, what does Johnson's argument (presumably, pre-waffle-fest) mean for libraries and/or education? I think it means we're on the right track. Libraries (as a whole) are just behind the early adopters, and ahead of most of the curve in using web 2.0 technologies (e.g., virtual reference, digital collections, even SL) and providing access to digital media brain food. We have games, DVDs, audiobooks. We social network; we LibraryThing. And, if the evil giant and Hathi Trust get their way, even those 300 page books and side of waffles Johnson served up will be available online along side the game guides and Season 6 of Seinfeld.

if I taught this class...

I'd probably screw it up. LOL. I have really enjoyed this class and using all of the social software tools. Call me crazy, but I didn't find the workload overwhelming. (Of course, I also liked MMP. ) Probably the only changes I would make to the class would be ones that would annoy the students:

For example, I missed the back and forth of commenting on classmates' blog posts. I would probably continue that throughout the course. (Yes, I know we could have done it anyway, and some of us did, but since it wasn't required, I didn't do it as much as I would have liked. Plus, it is nice to know that someone is reading your posts once in a while.)

I also enjoyed the new-to-me posts, which I would have liked to see continue throughout the class - possibly through shared bookmarking (which seemed to fizzle out) rather than through blog posting.

One thing I would have liked to learn about (and missed if it was covered) is ping-backs and track-backs in blogging. I have only a vague idea of what they are, and I'm not sure how to implement them.

Great class. Interesting readings (yes, even B&D). Learned some cool new things. Met some smart and interesting folks. Really glad I took this class. It's been fun. :-)

second day in SL

After wandering around aimlessly in SL , I found the New Citizens, Inc. group, which was annoying IM-wise, but very helpful in that it connected me to the mentor mentioned in my previous post. Based on this positive experience, I decided to look for library-related groups.

Joining the ALA-Events group gave me a cool (to me) tagline above my avatar, "I Love Libraries," and I started getting notices of their events. I sat in on a small meeting with the resident in charge of ALA Island, which was informative, and connected me with some folks at the meeting who recruited me into school library-related groups. Here is a snapshot of the meeting. (I apparently missed the memo on appropriate dress. ;-)

I also found some cool places, like Svarga Island. Check out the all-girl, all-598 band (Gabber, Oracle and Jensea):

The sim of Old Queens Campus was amazing to this 3-time RU student. I met some of its developers (builders?), and spent too much time talking to them and asking questions.

Finally, here's a screenshot of me with my (growing) groups list open in the floating Banned Books Week sim on ALA Island:

Yeah, I spent WAY too much time in SL this week, and could definitely see myself getting sucked deeper and deeper into it. For example, there's a great tutorial on building prims on Edutech Island, and I still haven't visited the growing RU area the developers told me about, and …

SL: where oh where is my avatar?

So, I went into SL a few different ways (scholar and general), but each time, my avatar would not show up. I was just a cloud. *sigh*

I checked everything, my video card, my drivers, my in game settings. Nothing. But then, I joined a wonderful group called New Citizens, Inc. An in-game mentor saw my question and helped me. He had an immediate solution (which I'll share in a sec), and then spent an hour showing me how to do everything, giving me things, and took me to a really cool island to see the Oracle (seeing as my SL name is Oracle).

I tried to screencast the instructions on fixing the fog-for-an-avatar issue, but even a very short screencast was too big to upload. So here it is:

1. Open the Advanced menu (if you can't see it in the menu bar, use Ctl-Alt-D)
2. Select Character
3. Select Character Test (Male or Female, as you prefer)
4. Your avatar should appear!

Here's the one that showed up when I did this on my own:


Here's the one that the in game mentor gave me:


Guess he wanted some eye candy as he helped me along. Plus it is really cool with wild flowing hair, blinking jewelry, and a bouncy little skirt. I'm thinking I need to find some more modest clothing, so I don't start getting offers like some of my classmates.

gaming? in a school library?

Gaming would be a really hard sell for my elementary school libraries. My initial reaction is that there is neither room in the budget nor room in the curriculum for gaming. With just $1K per year for books, I don't know how I would justify the purchase of games, let alone a gaming console.

However, let's imagine that I've given each of my principals copies of Steve Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You, and have convinced them that IS gaming is a valuable extra-curricular (or even cross-curricular) activity. Let's further imagine that I've received a grant like the one Jenny Levine mentions in her Sirsi/Dynix Institute presentation, Gaming in the Library, where I'm *required* to bring in innovative programming, like, ahem, gaming. Where to begin?

My criteria would likely include:

• Cost
  
• Successful use in other districts
  
• Ability to create connections to curriculum standards
  
• Usability - the interface/controllers can't be too complex for youngest students in my K-5 building.
  
• Availability of appropriate titles.
  
• Acceptance/perception among the school community. The system needs to be attractive to students/parents/administrators. It can't be seen as too young or too mature for the student body.

I'd conduct my research on several fronts: First, a survey of the students and faculty: What games do they play? Which consoles do they have at home? Which consoles do they prefer? Why?

Second, I'd look online to see what other schools are using and reach out to them for advice. A quick search of Levine's blog, revealed one district's curriculum connections for board games. I'm guessing that someone somewhere is doing this for video games, too. Levine also had a link to this post from a school library that includes Webkinz, DDR, and Guitar Hero.

A few years ago, I might have emphasized comparing platforms based on which titles they offer. Today, it seems that many titles are now released across multiple platforms. Similarly, most consoles offer online content and forums. However, the popularity of a given gaming system among schools would be an important factor if we wanted to connect with other gaming schools online for gameplay, competition and discussions.

Not having done the research, my first instinct is that the Wii platform would be a good choice. Right now, it has a very family-friendly reputation, not shared by consoles such as X-box 360 or PS-3. Although physical games such as DDR and Eye Toy exist for other systems, Wii's interface involves more physical movement for all of its games. With the Wii Fit and sports games that involve mimicking the actual motions of real physical play, tie-ins to physical education curricula should be easy.

screencasting: best practices for beginners

In my limited experience, here a few tips for successful screencasting:

1. Don't bother doing a dry run without recording. You are going to rerecord it a gazillion times for a gazillion stupid reasons (e.g., the kids come running into the room screaming, someone slams a door, you forget what you wanted to say). You might as well start recording from the get go. It is good practice. And who knows, one day that first take might just be a keeper. (It could happen.)
   
2. Practice doesn't make perfect. It will never be perfect. Good enough is good enough. There are no Emmys or Oscars at stake. Move on.
3. Know the limitations of your equipment. Accept them. Move on. If you have a built in mic that works, for example, it will be much easier and more efficient to just find a quiet place to record, or banish your family from the house for an hour, than it will be to spend days troubleshooting the volume levels of that headset (the one you just had to buy) that sounds fine when you listen to it locally but becomes completely inaudible upon upload. There is no reason. There is no solution. Do what works and move on.
4. It is your voice. And, yes, you REALLY sound like that. However, you don't have to like it. You don't have to listen to it. We do. Accept it and move on.
5. Stay on message. You may not need/want to script your screencast, but have a specific teaching objective and stick to it.
   
6. Less is more. Don't over-narrate. We can see what you are doing.
7. Less is more. Keep it short. Under 5 minutes is good. Under 2 minutes is better.
8. Smile when you talk. You sound more relaxed and friendlier, even if it is your 10th take and you are ready to throw the laptop out the window.
   

Everything Bad Is Good For You (part 1)

In part one of EBIGY, Steve Johnson lays out an interesting argument regarding the evolution of entertainment media/content into increasingly complex and intellectually demanding, and I agree. I see it being played out in my children's lives. Where I was playing Go Fish and Crazy Eights at age four, my son was playing Pokémon cards. He couldn't read, so he memorized the combinations of strengths, weaknesses, attacks and defenses and their consequences. When he became frustrated with the inequality of certain match-ups in the first generation of Pokémon cards, he made up his own characters and cards to add to the game.

After Pokémon, my son quickly moved on to the even more complex Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. By the time the second release of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards appeared, it wasn't the game that frustrated my son, it was the incompetence and slowness of his opponents (his father and I). I was amazed at how quickly he could calculate the damages and effects of the cards, when each attack seemed to involve the effects of several cards on each side of the playing field.

A few years ago, he began playing World of Warcraft, where he started his own guild, complete with its own website and message boards. His most recent obsession is Unforgotten Realms, where he and other members construct intricate (text-based) roleplays on message boards with multiple characters, story lines and detailed narrative threads. (Think fan-fiction for the RPG set, where they make up their own characters and stories.)

So, as far as gaming goes, I completely agree with Johnson's premise that gaming is a complex medium that builds cognitive skills. What is new to me, however, is Johnson's use of a similar argument for television, including reality programming. I mean, really, reality tv has redeeming qualities?! Johnson's argument for emotional intelligence is interesting, but I'm going to need some more evidence. I'm not entirely convinced, but I'm definitely curious enough to "tune in" for part 2 next week...