Passage - Indie Game

This week's topics on video/computer games reminded me of a game I came across a few years ago, called Passage. It's a short game, 5 minutes long, and is of a fairly simple design, heavily pixelated. It basically is a character going through a maze....I think the game is better experienced without much more of an explanation!

Here's the download link:
http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/
Watch a walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3o0HFXPfco

I've posted some of my own thoughts about it in a comment below. If you play it, let me know your thoughts!

Hashtag Feminism

http://www.hashtagfeminism.com

Wikipedia - Gypsy Robe

I thought my previous experience dabbling in HTML would help me out with the Wikipedia assignment, which didn't prove to be the case at all. I began by watching the videos that Wikipedia shows you when you sign up, which were rather confusing but somewhat helpful. I chose to edit the Gypsy Robe article because it's a subject that I felt knowledgeable in, and because I already felt the pressure on editing something on Wikipedia with such a large audience, this seemed the safe route for me.

I began by first copying Gyspy Robe wikicode and played with it on sandbox. Even though my work on sandbox was just for me, I found myself being very careful with the words I chose. After becoming a bit more familiar with wikicode, I then moved onto the actual Gypsy Robe wikipedia page to edit. The original page wasn't as detailed as I thought it could be, so I went over to the Actor's Equity Association website and did more research on the ritual, the rules, who's present, and the meaning on passing the robe and adding momentos to it.

With that information now at hand, I created a more structured page by creating a Ritual header, and explaining the ritual, and then going on to state the rules of the ritual. I pushed the original text that had the history to the bottom of the page, now with it's own header as well. 

The last thing I wanted to do was add an image of the gypsy robe at the top of the page, but that proved to be the most difficult task. Through trying to find out how I could upload an image, I learned that Wikipedia only accepts images from Wikimedia Commons, and that the image was able to be legally shared. I tried uploading an image, but I was instructed to choose what creative commons the image had, which I of course did not know. Even then I was tempted to upload it and see what happened, but I chose not to, since I'm intimidated by how large Wikipedia is, and what could have been the consequence. So next, I went to getty, wire images, and advanced search on google images to find an image of the gypsy robe that I could legally use. That proved to be a dead end as well. While I found many images, all of them asked for monetary compensation to use said images.

I think the biggest challenge of this assignment might have been myself. Throughout this entire process, I couldn't help but be aware of the large audience that Wikipedia has, and I ended up second guessing the language I used, thinking it wasn't professional enough or how it would be received by wiki users. 

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Robe

Wikipedia username: smthisisu

The original Gypsy Robe page

Editing the page

My edits live on the gypsy robe page

Ethnography Reflections

For my ethnography assignment I went to the Starbucks in the Costa Verde Plaza. I went in with the intention of observing how people interact with their technologies when they are around other people who are also interacting with technologies. This observation was inspired by events in my own life that showed me how connected to my technological devices I am, and how I have integrated the technologies into face to face communication. My roommate and I were sitting in our room together, maybe two feet apart, and we were chatting on Facebook. Then she suddenly breaks the silence in the room and asks "why are we talking to each other on Facebook when we're two feet apart?"

This made me think about just how much I interact with my cell phone and laptop, and what the technologies mean to me. To me, my technologies are communication devices, ways to express myself, and forms of protection. Of course I use my phone and laptop to keep in contact with people--through text messaging, Facebook, Twitter. Or I could turn to my friend and show her something I see on Facebook that I find funny or show her a picture of a dress that I like. But my devices are also ways for me to express myself--taking pictures with my phone and uploading them on Facebook, writing about things that I think are funny on Twitter, and more. These are all uses that are common. But I've come to discover that I also use these devices as a shield. If I see someone I recognize, but don't want to acknowledge them I hide myself behind my phone and act like I'm in the middle of a text or something extremely important, and usually it works.

I thought of how technology can help break awkward boundaries as well. In any other coffee shop I probably wouldn't approach a random stranger with as much ease as I do and have seen done at a Starbucks where many people are with their technology. People aren't afraid to sit next to people they don't know so long as there is a device that separates them. In a way, being on our laptops is like entering into a virtual world. Sitting next to someone I don't know isn't uncomfortable because it's like we aren't even next to each other. I saw a lot of this happening at Starbucks--people who don't know each other (I assumed) asking to sit down and essentially invade a person's personal space. Having the common ground of technology in a sense makes people bold. I also noticed a lot of people smiling at their devices, which I know I am also guilty of. It was just funny to see how someone could feel so connected to another person through a device that the device could actually make them smile or laugh.

Technology has become an extension of ourselves. It protects us but also puts us in danger. People think that we are on our phones and laptops too much these days, but these devices have become a part of our lifestyle and our language. This became very evident to me while observing people at Starbucks. Anyways, those are just a few musings I had post-ethnography.

Ethnography: Cat Power

       As an avid animal lover, I decided to take field notes while attending a pet show. On April 25, 2014 I went to the world’s largest pet expo and the OC Fairgrounds which featured all types of products and animals including dogs, birds, reptiles, fish, farm animals and cats. The main event that I intended to observe was the international cat show in which my mom, Diane, had entered our Toyger cat (Tango) in to compete. I do acknowledge that this gave me insider access as a co-exhibitor with my mom. However, this was the first cat show that I had physically been to myself while my mother and the cat have attended several shows before this that I had heard about.
       Within the cat show itself, I was interested in the power relationships between humans and animals. On the mico-level, I observed the interactions that visitors, exhibitors and judges had with the cats and recorded sensory observations between 12:18pm and 1:46pm.
       The use of tools and technology were present in most interactions that humans had with the cats. It was interesting to see how human used these tools to control the animal’s behavior, action and desired appearance. Observing the use of the tools also opened my eyes to greater connections within the human/animal binary.
       I sat in a chair in front of where Tango’s exhibit was set up which gave me a good view of our neighboring cats. To the right of our cage was a large setup of the “American Bob Cat” complete with a 4 foot educational poster atop the cage. Page one of my field notes depicts a sketch of what the cage looked like and my proximity to the bobcats and women exhibitors.
       Around 1pm I was observing visitors interact with the cats and exhibitors around me when I heard the male announcer over there loud speaker say, “ Cat 127 is needed in ring 6, cat 127 please come to ring 6.” At this point the Bobcat lady to my left frantically got up as she realized cat 127 was hers. This lady had short grey hair and glasses and was wearing a black shirt that said “bow wow” and black pants. She was thin with a slightly hunched over stance eluding that she was older in age. She stool up from the chair and proceeded to pull the bob cat out of the cage with one hand and pick up a grooming bag with the other. She placed the cat on the small table that was unfolded in front of her station and it sat there for a few seconds as she rummaged through her bag. The first item that she pulled out from the bag was a Q-tip which she used to clean out the gunk in the eyes of her cat. Her left had held the head of the cat still as she poked and prodded the cat’s eyes to her liking. The cat responded by wiggling it’s tail but did not try to escape or pull away from the lady’s hand or tool. After finishing with the Q-tip, the lady pulled a brush out of her bad and began fluffing the hair around the cat’s face and tail. Again, the cat did not even flinch when the brush went near the animal. At this point the lady was really close to the cat and hunched over with  only a few inches separating her face and the cat. I then noticed a tissue paper-like collar around the cat’s neck that was keeping its hair from “unfluffing”. This tool did not seem to bother the cat either as the cat did not try to rip the collar off or respond angrily. The lady pulled the tissue collar off and reached back into her bag one more time. She pulled out a bottle of baby powder and I honestly had no idea what she was going to use this for. Her left hand grabbed the cat’s tail and lifted it up and she used her right hand to squirt the baby powder onto the cat’s butt. A large cloud of powder dispersed into the air and the aroma of the cat show turned form smelling like a litter box to a baby’s nursery. Once again, the cat did not mind having powder thrown all over it and complied with the tools and human direction it was given.
       Within this context the lady (human) had control and power over the cat (animal). She exerted this power through the help of tools to groom and prep the cat the way that she wanted. The cat did not retaliate but instead  complied with what the lady wanted the cat to do and how the lady wanted the cat to respond to the tools. These observations have reinforced the power relationship of human over animal. I have concluded that animals learn to behave in the ways that people want them to behave.
       Further analysis of my field notes and observations have brought me to think about topics that we discussed in class during the first few weeks of lecture. In, “A Cyborg Manifesto” Donna Haraway discusses anthropomorphism in which human form or attributes are ascribed to something non-human. While observing the lady, I could not help but attribute grooming her cat to that of taking care of a baby. The same human tools that would be used to take care of a baby were used when addressing the cat. Both baby and the cat had the same smell of “baby powder” and the helpless reaction that the cat had to the lady’s actions were similar to those of a baby. To further solidify my connection, continued observation revealed the lady feeding her cat literal baby food with a spoon through the cage. 

Ethnography

          On Monday April 28, 2014 at 1:56pm I made my way to the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla. While observing a woman and two men she was with and an older couple, I noticed that a museum filled with thousands of dollars worth of beautiful art work was not nearly as enticing to them as the ocean view was. I found it interesting to see them enjoy the ocean view in a space where people go to look art work.

When I walked into the first room, I noticed two men staring at a piece by William Powhida, How to Destroy LA. They both had their arms crossed, stood fairly close to the piece for a good three minutes reading the words and phrases and never exchanged any words with each other. They were dressed very casually wearing capri like shorts, sneakers, tank top, and one of them had a camera around his neck, although I never saw him use it. As they made their way to the next several pieces of art work, one of the guys walked over to the woman. They admired a piece by Ramiro Gomez, Yahaira with the Laundry Basket. She was dressed in jeans, black sweater, sneakers, a fanny pack around her waist, and a purse hanging from her shoulder. She pointed to something in the painting and started to speak in Spanish with the man. They continued to speak in Spanish as they made their way to the last few paintings in that room.

I continued to walk around the museum where I ran into the woman again. This time she is alone sitting on a beach in a room with a huge window that overlooks the ocean. She reached in her bag to grab a notebook/journal and starts writing. Her comportment seemed relaxed as her legs were crossed writing in her journal with an ocean view in front of her. She just sits there for eight minutes before one of the guys she is with comes over and sits next to her. I could not tell how close they were sitting from where I was standing. They sat on the bench and looked out of the window as they spoke in Spanish. I went around the museum again making sure I saw everything before heading outside. I walked back to see if they were still sitting there and they still were. It must have been about fifteen minutes since I left and came back to see them still talking to each other as they waited for the other man to join them.

I finally made my way outside to enjoy the scenery and sunshine myself  when I saw a older couple, old enough to be my grandparents, sitting on a beach in the shade looking out at the ocean and the construction men working down below. The older man was wearing glasses, a baseball cap, long gray sweatpants, and a jacket. The woman was wearing leggings and a red sweater. The older man sat on a padded cushion with his back hunched over. The woman’s comportment was upright sitting at the edge of the bench watching the men work down below. She got up a few times to watch what they were doing, and she seemed to come back and till the older man. They reach into the paper bag, which is in the middle of them, and eat a snack as they enjoy the view. As time passed by, the older man dozed off. The woman sat next to him peacefully with her legs crossed. At that moment, I started to think about my own grandparents and how they could just sit next to each other, not say a word, and just enjoy each other’s company and the space around them. I remember watching my grandpa fall asleep in his rocking chair in the middle of the afternoon on a peaceful day such as this one. The sound of the drill woke up the older man. It must have been a good thirty minutes from when I first came outside and watched them. As they got up to leave, the older woman held the bag and the cushion in one hand and held the door open for the older man in the other. She turned to him and said, “I don’t think this is the way we came in.” I sat outside for a few more minutes before I made my way back to the museum.

I enjoyed my time at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla. I was not expecting to document people enjoying the ocean view and sitting peacefully admiring the view at a museum. I thought I would find myself looking at people gazing at the art work, taking photos, standing at different distances and angels, and admiring their facial expressions as they walk around. It was interesting watching these five people in this space enjoying and taking in something other than the art work.