The Game Studies journal uses a basic with its overall design, which can make reading a bunch of long articles boring, no matter how interesting the subjects are. In terms of digital journals, I will say I expected a lot more from the majority of them. In concept, yes they are all digital journals, but the intergradation of technology could go so much further. For example, when I think of digital journals, the Verge is a prime model of what I would picture it like. Using the functions of technology to make it interactive with the user, and ignoring restrictions like the cost of ink it would take to print thousands of copies. I found these two journals to be polar opposites of each other, from their designs to their content. Even with both of them sharing a similar theme with articles about technology. The Verge does cover more topics overall, giving it more of a news type outlet by posting frequently about current issues and topics. Whereas the Game Studies journal is very sparing with the articles they post for a certain topic (mainly focus on computer games). Due to the infrequently, the authors are able to go into detail and depth for articles.
Author: acoul029
3/17 Blog Post
Right off the bat, the Verge is very eye catching and makes used of various visuals and popping colors against a black background on the homepage to standout. The purpose of the Verge is to study how the future of technology will change mainstream audiences. Therefore, the articles found are very up to date and target the tech savvy population with drop down tabs for things such as “tech” and “creators”.
They use many types of modality on their website in the forms of newsletters, podcasts and videos. Clicking the video tab on the menu bar will which actually just send you to their YouTube channel, but they also have videos all around the website that can be clicked and sent to the article that goes with the video.
3/5 Blog Post
The academic journal I choose to look into more was the Games Studies, who define their purpose as shining light onto games and gaming. Although they say they welcome all types of games, they focus mainly on computer games. While I was reading through I archives, I found many theories on the general ideas of games as well as specific games such as Pokémon Go. Out of the 10 journal entries I read, eight of them had abstractions. On the other hand, all of them gave credit to their author’s on the left side, as well as background on their qualifications giving a very creditable feel.
Originally, I choose my major of computer science hoping to enter the gaming industry. Although my passion for working at a gaming company has decreased, I still enjoy games and what they are all about, so to me the journal had interesting concepts. The journal had many interesting entries and ideas, but the overall appearance of the site and articles are boring. Some did make use of visuals, but there was still an overwhelming amount of text to read comparatively. As far as navigating the journal, because of its basic design it is easy to find what you want. The only part where I became confused was knowing what volume of the journal I was in, since the only change from volume is in the right hand corner.
Blog Post 3/3
Academic:
1. Computers and Composition Online: http://cconlinejournal.org/
This journal is one of the older ones, turning 33 years old this year, and 15 of those they have been digital. The overall design and layout does reflect age of the journal with its basic layout and color scheme. Still it dictates itself as a resource for scholars interested on the media’s impact on the voices for writing online.
2. Game Studies: http://gamestudies.org/1502/
Game Studies is a journal that uses peer-reviewed forums in order to discuss topics of games and gaming in an academic environment. What makes this interesting is that; although it is an academic journal, it says that articles should be jargon-free. This makes it easy for anyone to read the journal and get into the concept of games. The journal’s design itself is a little boring and has not been changed since the first volume in 2001.
3. Games and Culture: http://gac.sagepub.com/
This journal explains its purpose as creating an academic dialogue about the design, development and research a game may cause. As well as examining how games may be used for things other than entertainment, such as education. For example, being trained for the military in a game is an interesting take on gaming
Non-Academic:
4. Bitchmedia: https://www.bitchmedia.org/
This publication caught my eye because of the name of the website. Bitchmedia describes itself as, “a feminist response to pop culture” and “unapologetically independent.” Unlike the academic journals, this publication uses multimodal platforms such as print, digital and podcast. They aim for all demographics of women in order to encourage feminism as a “part of the broader social justice movement.”
5. Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/
I choose to explore Huffington Post because I have heard of it before. Although it is considered a news site, I always thought it was a questionable one. During my time on the site, I it took me a whole to find the about section. There was a link at the very bottom that forced the reader to skim all of the articles titles before reaching the bottom. The about section explained that they are opinion based, and focus on writing about the people’s experience. Opinion and facts are the opposite of each other, which explains my hesitance with using the Huffington Post.
6. The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/
This publication is by far the one that uses the most visuals and colors. Unlike the Huffington Post, the Verge makes it statement of achieving integrity for their journals very clear, and out in the open. The purpose of the Verge is to study how the future of technology will change mainstream audiences. They post often and stay up to date on popular trends, such as YouTube and Fortnite. As I was looking into publications, I saw many on the coronavirus and health concerns followed Fortnite news, showing the broad topics it has.
2/27 Blog Post
From what I can understand, Kairos is a low acceptance rate journal targeted mainly towards scholars with an interest in digital rhetoric. It uses an interesting concept of peer reviews, and has a reputation for being academically trust worthy.
The overall design of the journal is key catching, to the point where I almost found it overwhelming compared to the traditional/standard format. The landing page stands out with its inverse color scheme compared to a normal website, aided by colorful headers for the articles. Each of the articles on Kairos have their own style, showing the diversity of it. Some use visuals, while others rely mainly on the text with a few imagines every once in a while.
The context on Kairos itself seems to be focusing on digital rhetoric in the sense of teaching authorship and rights for online composition. Originally, copyrights were not an issue because everything was in a physical copy. The digital communication allowed for the spread of work online for anyone to use with just a simple search to find. It is important that credit is given when due, and because of this Jiang argues for a model of ownership. Although this can be messy when the creator is not just a human. It brings up the concept to crediting the tools for the creation of the work. Although some laws have changed, it is still under debate who to credit ownership with.
As the Kairos journal has gone on through the years, we can see the growth in technology about it. Pointing out key ideas, such as the use of multimodal composition. Originally, the issues were much more formal. Following the standards students learn throughout school giving it basic style, and without much to look.
2/18 Blog Post 2
1. Rhetorical Sovereignty: “The rights and responsibilities that students have to identify their own communicative needs and to represent their own identities” (Selfe 618).
Selfe wants to empower the students to think on their own to find their own style. Finding their style means that they should be made aware of different mediums for their communication as tools they would be able to use in the future.
2. Aural Text: “They often found the texts of television and radio, which involved the aural presentation of information, to resonate more forcefully than the written texts of historical eras” (Selfe 631).
Aural can be simply defined as sound, which traditionally is the opposite of text. Using the two together creates a juxtaposition, but even so has been shown to reinforce the information. This could be used as a powerful tool for teachers in their classrooms.
3. Digital Networks: “Have provided routes for the increasing number of communications that now cross geopolitical, cultural, and linguistic borders” (Selfie 367).
Our world is a digital one and to understand aural/written literacy, understanding digital communication is necessary. Since people from different classes, races, and power have access to digital technologies, it has affect literacy across the world. Large organizations do not only just use print as a means of communication, but other mediums as well. Digital networks help to establish a connection between people with common interest.
2/18 Blog Post 1
Selfe argues that by following the traditional learning process, it limits the understanding of the world and other resources that have become available. Like the multiliteracy and other articles, Selfe claims that print literacy goes against voicing other’s culture. In order to change the tradition, the author believes both writing and aurality must be taught in school. Although there are topics that aurality should focus on like music, the history of it always comes back to the writing of it, such as looking at the written song lyrics.
Many cultures are coming together in this digital age. Examples of this are the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and International Olympics Movement, who use various communications beside text. As technology advances the use of it increases, in order to establish communities that crosses cultures. Selfe references the New London Group, “who identified the aural as one modality among many” (638). They allowed for composition in the classrooms to become more expressive, although only a small portion of it was accepted. The importance behind using technology is so that students are able to understand what their options are, and that they should not be limited by their teacher’s way of thinking.
2/13 Blog Post 1
Yancey struggles to define what writing is, and how much it actually covers. Like the multiliteracies article and George’s article, Yancey credits technology for changing how writing’s definition is defined. As public reading and writing grew more popular, there began a mixture of class, gender, ethnicity coming and functioning together as a whole. With this though, Yancey explains there is a decline in English departments at schools and higher education itself. This is because it is becoming part of our daily lives without having to go to school for it. Yancey gives the example of language used in cinema which has become common vocabulary. From this brings up the next topic of how composition should be taught. For the most part, teachers have already moved onto using digital literacy.
Even so, Yancey argues that there must be three major changes made to education to teach composition. The first is developing a new curriculum, then revise the current curriculums writing style and finally developing a major in composition and rhetoric. The new curriculum should focus on the writer to the world, rather than how it is set up currently with the writer to teacher. Because of the growth of technology, writing to an individual rather than a group is no longer reasonable. It can create some good writers, but using the same method as when there was no technology does not prepare the students for the future.
2/13 Blog Post 2
1. Reading Circles: “sites of domestic engagement, but also in public places” (Yancey 300).
Yancey talks about the concept of public reading and the parallel effect it had on writing. By the 21st century, much like reading circles, writing circles had come to be with the aid of technology. These writing circles were very diverse but still it is important to see how they acted together without instructions, because they are willing to write without looking for a reward such as a grade.
2. Digital Divide: “Many of us continue to focus on print. Given a concern that postmodernism and infobits could undermine a sustained rational discourse” (Yancey 307).
Technology advancements have been credited in each article for changing how literacy can be portrayed as. The issue with this is that many of the older generation does not want to change the way they teach because they do not fully understand the digital world. Although many classrooms do already use digital literacy, the curriculum does not reflect on this.
3. Deicity of Technology: “Deixis, linguistically, whose ‘meanings changes quickly depending on the time or space in which they are uttered’ or read” (Yancey 318).
Deixis is a word used to describe something that is always changing depending on the context. Because of the effect of technology, literacy has also become deixis. Meaning that there is more room for expanding composition itself such as in media. It is important to be able to adapt to a new process to prepare for the future.
2/11 Blog Post 2
1. Visual Communication: “Literacy means more than words, and visual literacy means more than play” (George 16).
Visual communication is more than just using visuals to complement a text or speech, it can be analyzed to draw specific conclusions of its own. With mass media growing rapidly, it is important to understand how to read and interpret visuals. Learning how to understand the components of visual literacy, such as composition and design, of visuals make stronger writers.
2. Cultural Theory: “They connected the visual arts very directly with the world of language” (George 23).
John Berger’s Ways of Seeing was seen was a breakthrough to many teachers that wanted to incorporate cultural theory. It was a way to argue the image’s analysis and to say that an image does not have a ‘fixed reality’, allowing visual a place in the classroom for discussions. Another example of this would be how William Costanzo reports film composition as an equal partner to writing, instead of a way to aid writing. It is important to realize that the visuals that are created hold value and can be view in the same sense as text.
3. Visual Argument: “Does make an overt claim, assertion, or proposition that draws particularly on comparison, juxtaposition, and intertextuality to offer the assertion to an audience for acceptance. But visual arguments do not need to be parodic” (George 29).
A visual argument is very similar to a visual parody, where there is a claim that then develops with the visual information given. George does not believe that a visual argument must be completely nonverbal, but it should be the main focus. The overall composition of the visual can be supported with literacy, such as how literacy and be supported with images.
ENG/WRI333 