Experiments in Communication

This is a photoshopped photo that was very widely distributed through email (at least I think it's widely distributed because even I received it). The text of the email claimed that a camera was found in the ruins of the Twin Towers, and the film was developed, and this picture came out. Common sense says that it is impossible for something like this to have happened, but I think it looks believable enough to fool people.



This photo is of an ad for an anti-cellulite lotion. I saw this ad in Greece and was very freaked-out by it. Regardless of its freak-factor (or perhaps because of it), it illustrates how photoshop can be used to manipulate images and get across a simple idea, a visual statement, in a very realistic way.

Here are examples of using photoshop to change the female figure for the better



and for the worse

The intentions in this one were probably to criticize models, but it is backfiring -- I am only inclined to criticize the person who would spend time manipulating this image (and other similar ones) and not the models. This also makes me question all of the celebrity-obsessed publications (not that I haven't questioned them before -- it's just never really occured to me to doubt the authenticity of the photos they print until now).

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The process of customizing the blog template stylesheet was a little bit trickier than I had expected, but I learned a bit about what everything means and how different sections of the blog content are formatted. It was a little bit like deciphering a secret code, where you can only check your guess after saving the template and refreshing the page.

The photo I chose is somewhat irrelevant, but I liked it visually. I tried to make a color palette for the rest of the blog based on the photos, and I found that color can be very tricky (and look very different out of context!). I might change the photo and color scheme to something a little more cheerful. I am also still thinking about a better name for the blog.

I played with a few different fonts, but really like the custom font quite a bit. I wonder if it is only because I am used to seeing it a lot. I also liked a font called Andale Mono, but thought it made the text a little too spread-out and harder to read.

I want to learn more about using images or gradients as background, instead of a plain color. I looked at some of the other people's blogs, and one of them had a repeating image as the background (you couldn't really tell it was repeating, it feels like wallpaper), and it made the page more textured and interesting than a plain color would.

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Writing the 55-word story was quite difficult for me. Not so much because of the 55 word limit, but because I am not used to creative writing at all - I don't think my imagination is capable of making up stories (interesting ones at least). Once I had an outline of a story, writing it in 55 words wasn't so bad. Being frugal with words, and giving just enough information to convey to the reader what's going on was a very interesting exercise, and I enjoyed doing it. Trying to make it be funny was also a challenge. I don't think it came out as humorous as I would have liked. Writing a succinct, funny line is definitely a challenge.
Setting up the blog was very easy to do. I would eventually like to learn more about what is behind the movable type program/interface, learn how to make similar programs. I have never kept a blog or a diary, and I think it will be good for me to record my thoughts in writing.
The articles were all very interesting, but it's been so long since I had to write a reading response that I have almost forgotten how to go about doing it! I hope to get better at it as the semester goes by.

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“Ok, try not to screw it up this time.”
“You’re the one who knows how to swim too well.”
“At least I didn’t forget to tie the other end of the rope!”
“One, two three, fire!”
…
“Blanks?!?”
“If we make a mess, our wives will kill us!”
“Ah, good thinking man.”
“Beer?”
“Sure, let’s go.”

Posted by kyveli at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was truly fascinated by the EverQuest article. I have always been somewhat appalled by the popularity of these online games -- I find it unfortunate that people spend so much time in a virtual world when the real world is here. I understand that the sense of escape these games can offer can be satisfying, or even necessary for some people, but I think that in the long run this kind of escape might be harmful because it presents only a temporary, virtual solution to whatever problems they might have (and distracts them from dealing with the problems they have in the real world and finding a real solution to them).

This article has introduced me to many implications of these virtual worlds that I would never have considered. The interface between the real and virtual worlds and their economies (and people) is where it starts to get interesting. Because these virtual worlds exist in the real world, and connect real people to each other, their interactions and the relationships they build are in some sense real. However, I am worried that people will just get used to interacting with each other through a screen -- this happens more and more each day, not only because of RPGs of course -- and I don't think that's a good thing.

Back to the actual article though! Using these virtual worlds as a way of studying economic systems is a great idea. I wonder if they can be studied for other purposes, such as social psychology. Of course it has to be acknowledged by researchers that the gaming environment is fake, and not a representation of real life, so the behavior of the players isn't necessarily the same as it would be in the real world. For example, in examining the failure of games where no one can amass more wealth that any other players, we should keep in mind that the players enter the virtual world of the game to play and to win, so a game that doesn't allow you to do that will bore you. People don't always have such expectations from the real world though. People in the real world like to be lazy sometimes and don't mind not winning challenges etc.

Thinking about these games in terms of business is interesting to me, as I am beginning to understand how everything works, and all the questions the article the article raised about the legal implications of owning virtual property etc are very informative.

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