It would be easy to imagine that the conversations of ancient Greek philosophers, while certainly of historical interest, might have little relevancy to our lives today. Such an assumption would, however, be a mistake. As I read through the four…
Author Archive for Anne Engert
Making L33t Conections Online: r u a n00b or r u l33t?
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
R yuo a l33t h4x0r? Can j00 pwn n00bs? “1|=\| 0u |{4N r34|) t|-|15t|-|3N\| 0u i5 t3|-| |_337” (Blashki 81). If the preceding puzzles the reader, I can understand. My first encounter with l33t—a shortened form of elite, alternately written 1337,…
L33t powerpoint and notes
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
links to the powerpoint and my notes
Looking Backward From a Forward-Moving Edge
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
What is the role of media culture in my life and environment? What media artifact reflects my relationship with the dominant media culture in America? Those questions are as impossible to quantify in one artifact as is the concept of…
Play Your Way to Academic Success?
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
Kids love playing games. Computer Age kids love playing computer games. In games, especially highly complex computer games, players must learn, as a matter of course, vast amounts of detailed information about how the game operates and how to interrelate…
Little Brother: More Scary Truth Than Fiction
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
I almost quit reading Little Brother when I reached the chapter where Marcus is subjected to psychological and physical torture by dubiously constituted Homeland Security authorities. Not because I felt the scenario to be too outlandish, but because I found…
Participation, Compensation, and Conciliation: A Mash-Up Dilemma
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
Mirko Schafer’s “Participation Inside” brings up some intriguing issues relating to web 2.0. In the section devoted to discussing the increasing presence of user-driven activities tied to proprietary platforms, Schafer focuses on the Star Wars fan community and its creations…
Pianos and Computers–What’s the Real Game Here?
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
As I read Ellen Sieter’s article “Practicing at Home: Computers, Pianos, and Cultural Capital,” I found myself having trouble with her arguments on several levels—beginning with the analogy she draws between the current push for schools to teach computer literacy…
The Journey to Literacy: Taking A Virtual Voyage
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
Educators from pre-school to university are concerned these days with computer literacy. And no wonder, since computers have become an unavoidable feature of modern life, both in the business world and on the personal level. Computer literacy today is as…
“Public is the New Private”–If Not Now, Soon
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
The “Good Play Project’s” commentary cites the four characteristics (mentioned in boyd’s article on social networking) of NDM that make privacy issues so challenging: persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audience. The argument put forth is that online, especially among younger…