tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57685664523219555492011-11-27T16:10:29.856-08:00Venturing into the brave new digital world of social media culture.Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-46671538223984053712011-07-06T13:39:00.000-07:002011-07-06T13:39:46.568-07:00

Yesterday, I went to log into Facebook and was forbidden to do so. What? Surely I typed my password in wrong, or maybe the page needs to refresh. Nope - I was unable to access my own Facebook page because (I as told) my page was in a "special memorialized state." According to Facebook, I had shuffled off this mortal coil, bought the farm, kicked the bucket, assumed room temperature, sailed off

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-58951268391978040502010-09-12T13:21:00.000-07:002010-09-12T13:25:11.673-07:00

Some recent news about the "Cultural Literacies Across Media Course" I teach at Clemson University. Visit the CLAM SOUP blog to see the links to these articles, leave your comments and view work of students in the CLAM program. CLAM Soup (caah 201): CLAM Gets Noticed by The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Dr. Constancio Nakuma The July 22 Issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education featured a

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-51342560876246863572010-05-15T04:02:00.000-07:002010-05-15T07:03:55.838-07:00

You may not believe this, but some idiots at ABC had a quirky new show with interesting characters and a sort of cult following. Then one day they decided to pull, without warning or hint aforehand, Eli Stone from the air. ("O, by the way, this show won't be on anymore. Buh-Bye.") The show was only on air a little while, and yet viewers (like me) felt like the decision-makers at that network had

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-9445131235682663252009-10-16T12:31:00.000-07:002009-10-16T12:31:14.712-07:00

Attending the "CREATIVELY ENGAGING ONLINE STUDENTS" webinar at Clemson University in Brackett Hall today. Listening to someone talk about online course development sparks my own thinking about online course development. Each idea, if good, can be rightly plagiariz... er, uh, adopted. Each idea, if bad, can serve as a catalyst for better ideas. Way leads on to way, thoughts spread in a

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-61626774423197108212009-09-26T13:53:00.000-07:002009-09-26T13:53:15.584-07:00

This space will be changing to reflect the e-flaneur's journeys beyond the virtual (and fantastic) worlds into the worlds of social media and related digital spaces. Particular attention will be paid to how cultures "tell their stories" in new media. Expect discussions on: what comprises an identity of ethnos the narrative power of labeling and naming (nomos) attention to things kept and

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-33551044071476547432009-03-31T09:55:00.000-07:002009-03-31T12:27:46.032-07:00

Joan Slonczewski's A Door into the Ocean takes Feminist Uptopian Literature to new depths. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) Having as a major setting a planet (moon) completely covered with water, A Door into the Ocean offers a counter-balance to the well-worn Science Fiction convention of settings of barren moons, rugged craggy landscapes and deserts. (Slonczweski mentions her intent to respond to

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-13847815040163761932009-03-23T16:04:00.000-07:002009-03-24T07:48:56.394-07:00

William Gibson's Neuromancer is hailed as the book that brought about a significant change in Science Fiction in the '80's, ushering in what would be known as "cyberpunk." Dr. Elisa Sparks, in her online class notes defines cyberpunk as "* A form of science fiction developed in the mid-80's which envisions a near-future world dominated by information technology. * Especially ways that tech is

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-47293872196431325152009-03-02T07:59:00.000-08:002009-03-02T10:37:24.333-08:00

Dr. Sparks referred our class to a chapter from Joanna Russ' "To Write Like a Woman: Essays on Feminism and Science Fiction." This chapter, entitled 'Amor Vincit Foeminam: The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction," provides a good grounding to understand James Tiptree's writings, but also to situate the collection of writings that make up the RCID Topias reading list.I will point out a few

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-12950943708611000182009-02-24T09:56:00.000-08:002009-02-24T11:30:37.143-08:00

Dr. Elisa Sparks, in her entry on Woman on the Edge of Time for Masterplots in Women's Fiction, describes WET as <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-25648545211718093802009-02-16T15:23:00.000-08:002009-02-17T07:05:46.540-08:00

Photo from Mathias Degen, Cologne, Germany(Wikimedia Commons)The Novel of the "sixties?"In his study guide to Dispossessed, Paul Brians identifies Dispossessed as a product of the sixties: "All of these are values much promoted in the counterculture of the "Sixties" (which lasted from approximately 1967 to 1974); and the novel is clearly a product of its time. In many ways, Annares is an

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-87202522310114623162009-02-09T15:01:00.000-08:002009-02-10T07:34:52.830-08:00

In his introduction to The Practice of Everyday Life, Michel de Certeau sees consumption as “another production” at work in society. Even within capitalist, colonizing, totalizing, authoritarian systems – consumption is (almost invisibly, but nearly ubiquitously) an active “making” by the “other” within the dominant system. As de Certeau observes: For instance, the ambiguity that subverted from

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-51741802934371559452009-01-31T06:43:00.000-08:002009-02-02T11:52:02.405-08:00

First, Brave New World (revisited) - but not the book "Brave New World Revisited," just a revisiting of Brave New World, you know, the topic...Let me revisit the topic and answer the unanswered question from last week. (You remember when Anthony asked me to define science? and you remember when I declined? Yeah, that was cool...) Anyway, here is something that approaches identifying my idea of

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-43552694928517078932009-01-26T13:03:00.000-08:002009-01-27T15:06:32.419-08:00

It seems to this blogger that our last Topias class discussion was quite full of interesting interrogations of the works at hand, with examinations and deconstructions of nearly every potential topic: capitalism, classism, feminism, ecocriticism, genderism, racism, and more. Yet, I say NEARLY every potential topic, for it seems one sub-ject seemed to fly (almost imperceptibly) below the radar.

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-83430453910050291802009-01-19T11:09:00.000-08:002009-01-20T11:29:36.042-08:00

In explaining the objections to the Cornucopians’ environmental stance in his book, Ecocriticism, Greg Garrard points out that:A more serious objection is that cornucopians take little or no account of the non-human environment except insofar as it impacts upon human wealth or welfare. Nature is only valued in terms of its uselfulness to us. Many environmentalists argue that we need to develop a

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-45952555181678368842009-01-13T12:09:00.000-08:002009-01-13T12:26:18.534-08:00

Illinois' Secretary of State, in order to avoid having his signature affixed to the same document as impeached governor Blagojevich, signed a separate document to officially seat the next senator of the state. Unfortunately, instead of naming Roland Burriss to the position, a typographical error will now send Giants receiver Plaxico Burress to the senate. The Giants are relieved to be free of the

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-38798345517711894992009-01-02T11:05:00.000-08:002009-01-02T11:33:21.125-08:00

Ah the return to literature.Pure, sweet, undefiled muthos, narrative, story...And u/dys/mis/his/her/etc. - topias - how cool. The stuff that I loved so much about Jonathan Swift and Samuel Butler and Ray Bradbury and Piers Anthony others, oh... to read the writing of writers again - not just reading what critics and theorists write about the writing.My literary reading has been overwhelmed by the

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-53410583282200716772008-12-10T16:01:00.000-08:002008-12-10T16:35:08.075-08:00

No, really, it's over....Can't you just move on?

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-25390502051710577912008-12-09T08:29:00.000-08:002008-12-09T08:30:18.048-08:00

Sad, but it's over...Goodbye, Serious Games...

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-9507250219953198862008-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:002008-12-10T16:38:30.858-08:00

RCID 813: Special Topics – a class, a game or a battle? Latinist N.S. Gill offers the following definition for Ludus: Ludus is a Latin word meaning either school or game. Gladiators like Spartacus were taught to fight by people called lanistae in a ludus and then the game at which they fought was also a ludus. The plural of ludus is ludi. The ludi were important occasions for entertainment in

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-89206347775895914502008-11-12T13:00:00.000-08:002008-11-12T16:28:45.619-08:00

In Mitchell's Video Games and Art, Jane Pincard interviews the curators of an art gallery. This art gallery is much like other art galleries in some ways, but unique in one particular way - the gallery is located with the world of "The Sims Online." The curators comment on what I call a "Baudrillardian mapping" of the offline world - and express an interesting connection with the "domesticity" of

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-70545217317684240222008-11-05T13:21:00.000-08:002008-11-05T15:35:37.255-08:00

The voting is over, and a new president has been elected! Many people found the election process to be engaging, exciting and interesting. Record numbers turned out. But, not everyone voted. Why?There are some people who abstain from voting based, not on inconvenience or forgetfulness or sloth, but on conscience. In an October 31 article in the Pahrump, Nevada Times, Glen Tenney describes this

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-10228417510554092102008-10-28T16:43:00.000-07:002008-10-29T13:45:13.295-07:00

In Second Life, you can be a man or a woman or a furry animal. You can live on the beach or in the mountains or in the clouds. You can walk, ride a Kart 1.0 or fly. Then, why do we so often see things like Coca-cola, New York, and other "first life" artifacts? I believe the answer can be explained by studies in a relatively new field called "Omnitopia." The Center for Omnitopia Studies defines

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-13464992192684654652008-10-22T14:00:00.000-07:002008-10-22T14:07:18.204-07:00

One afternoon on Adobe Connect:Randy: Hello Roomalicia: hi gamersjosue: wazuuuup!Sergio Figueiredo: so... about educational video gamesSergio Figueiredo: what are they?josue: great segueRandy: yeah...Sergio Figueiredo: so what is the difference between video game learning and digital based learning?josue: procedural rhetorics?alicia: yes, josuejosue: sans (s)Sergio Figueiredo: it seems that

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-81819539208419507922008-10-15T13:39:00.000-07:002008-10-15T13:45:02.942-07:00

Forbes has an intriguing article on several companies entering the video game advertising world. Check out this slideshow to find how Chrysler, Toyota and others are using the "associative" (and other?) approaches to advertising in video games.

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-90016678677961822092008-10-08T13:41:00.000-07:002008-10-08T14:12:52.883-07:00

The 2004 classic that sets the standard...This Land! | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-78021408852445292892008-10-01T12:04:00.000-07:002008-10-01T14:39:56.928-07:00

While most gaming design seems to focus on characters and their actions to drive the narrative and engage the user, Henry Jenkins' "Game Design as Narrative Architecture" brings to the fore the importance of ambiance, atmosphere and setting - or what Jenkins calls "Evocative Spaces." (677) As an E-Flaneur, I have always appreciated the games that give attention to detail in the space in which I

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-9251182735366726302008-09-24T14:55:00.000-07:002008-09-24T15:53:40.153-07:00

My goal was to enter the World of Warcraft, choose a character and play until I reached level 10. "It may take about 6 hours," so said our illustrious Serious Games seminar leader. I think it may take longer for noobs. Like me.I chose to "be" a Rogue Troll, and entered the orientation area. I had played WOW briefly with my nephew, and so I had some idea of the navigation of the game. I ran into

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-72481616939445238942008-09-24T05:13:00.000-07:002008-09-24T15:58:32.229-07:00

From Bogost’s Persuasive Games, p. 99: “The 2004 U.S. Election renewed world citizens’ recognition of an ideological polarization in U.S. politic.” Really? Bogost gives attention to the work of cognitive linguists, political strategists, and the power of framing by vocabulary… BUT… It seems the whole idea of “ideological polarization” is also very much a construct of language and ideological

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-48252742168108155962008-09-17T12:31:00.000-07:002008-09-17T12:55:24.046-07:00

In "Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs," Richard Bartle points out four aspects that MUD-users "typically enjoyed personally": 1)Achievement, 2)Exploration, 3)Socializing, and 4)Imposition on others. From this revelation, the four "suits" of users are revealed as Diamonds (seeking a goal or reward), Spades (who just dig/root-around), Hearts (socializers), and Clubs (who hit

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-12853126569327500852008-09-10T13:08:00.000-07:002008-09-10T13:14:50.622-07:00

Re: The simulations (like BioChemFX) in chapter 2 of Ian Bogost's "Persuasive Games"The eighties called. They want their Values Clarification situational ethics simulation back.

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-30891280787508127302008-09-10T11:48:00.000-07:002008-09-10T13:16:17.772-07:00

I played a few online "toys" (mistakenly called games by some) that really stretched the idea of "play." These games - doh! toys, Kabul Kaboom, Sept. 12 and Madrid are all the kind of "games you can not win." The "moral" or "message" of the games -and without a message, these inventions would be pointless - is that "the only way not to lose is not to play." In other words, "war is bad" or "

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-32688438141616291532008-09-03T15:15:00.000-07:002008-09-03T15:29:37.036-07:00

So there I was, placidly reading the first chapter of Ian Bogost’s Persuasive Games, “Procedural Rhetoric” in one of the dining halls here at Clemson, when a dialog availed itself. I make this passive because it was about 5-7 minutes in that I realized capturing its spirit and content might be instructive. The participants were myself and Alicia Hatter, one of my RCID colleagues. Although we were

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-52741156923438932702008-09-03T07:08:00.000-07:002008-09-03T07:33:47.582-07:00

When I first moved to the NYC area, I considered each trip into "the city" (what residents of other boroughs call Manhattan) to be a new adventure of discovery.I would sometimes plot out a detailed route of exploration: PATH to 33rd, walk to Herald Square, Shop at Macy's, get a coffee at the Chock Full O'Nuts, and visit the Empire State Building.Other times, when alone, I would simply go into the

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-3441764578767114702008-08-27T14:09:00.000-07:002008-08-27T14:52:34.792-07:00

"Play cannot be denied. You can deny, if you like, nearly all abstractions: justice, truth, goodness, mind, God. You can deny seriousness, but not play."J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A study of the Play-Element in CultureIn his treatise on "play," Huizinga puts forth a couple of interesting statements:1. "...the fun of playing, resists all analysis, all logical interpretation."2. "No other modern

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-25545187488627453232008-08-26T10:48:00.000-07:002008-08-26T10:57:40.394-07:00

Google is a search engine for web content.Google is also a producer of web content.Is this a conflict of interest?(Cowboy Logic says, "Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.")The folks at startupbin.com have an answer:Google Minus Google! (http://www.startupbin.com/google-google/)It's all the Google search with none of the Google results!Read about it on starupbin's blog.

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-39797738288865389822008-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:002008-08-25T18:02:28.367-07:00

I thought it a very notable dys/chronicity to discover that there is a blog that is now publishing, day by day, albeit 70 years late, the diary entries of Eric Blair during his sanitarium stay in Morocco. It is pretty cool to think that Eric's diary would be seen by the world at large, as though there were some all-seeing eye (panopticon/Big Brother) from the future surveying all he said or

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5768566452321955549.post-34094912711269465182008-08-21T20:35:00.000-07:002008-08-25T17:54:20.905-07:00

Chris Noth clears my name before leaving the series. Thanks, Mike Logan. We will miss you. (Catch a 2-minute wrap-up of "Last Rites" at USA Network's website.)

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0