Student Blogs

Joanna Christen
http://joanna323.blogspot.com
Will focus on looking at the various websites and applications that are used for studying languages. Do they really work? What does programmable media have to offer to the student of language in general that is superior to books and a teacher? Will also look at the use of language labs for the teacher, and tie in some information on schools in Canada and France (not sure in what way at this point). Might want to look at more advanced theories of how languages are being taught today in the classroom and see if there is anything in particular that new media can offer them -- i.e. are there Montessori-type educational theories? (This paper needs a little focus for me, but if you start working on your blog I'll get a better idea.)

Jaclyn Dunay
http://jackiedunay.blogspot.com
Will look at the spate of “alternative” music videos to songs that already have had professional, corporate videos made for them. Has the role that was previously assigned to a business to promote their songs been handed over to fans? Is there a growing stigma attached to professional videos? What types of cultures are being created – is there a particular type of music that gets this treatment? Could also consider the issue of the “mash-up” – types of videos made by using source material from other videos – as well as the increased role of animation in AfterEffects and Flash. (Could also look at weird things like “All Your Base Are Belong to Us”).

Megan Errickson
http://meganerrickson.blogspot.com
Will look at issue of blogs and how they have managed to take over for more traditional media in terms of opinion editorials and other forms of “credibility,” including how something like Wikipedia could be seen as more credible than a traditional book source. Will concentrate on 3 or so blogs that highlight some of these issues, such as Daily Kos, an influential political blog. Must ask questions about the nature of print authority in an age in which one’s web page could be changed overnight – how can one site such a thing as a source?

Benjamin Esser
http://dailywitandwisom.blogspot.com
Will look at issues of gender as it is represented in video games, especially the psychological conditioning that it produces and its effects on society. Questions that should be asked is whether the types of identifications that we believe occur in movies and in politics (or non-fictional television) really carry over to video games, and how much the presumed audience for video games (mostly younger boys) effects the representations. This can also extend into considerations of race and other issues of societal representation (Nazis, car thieves, etc.)

Melissa Garafolo
http://mydreamsneverdie.blogspot.com
Will do a series of short critiques of electronic literature, specifically those that appear on the Electronic Literature Organization’s first CD collection of works. (I will lend her such books as Kate Hayles’ Writing Machines and the Digital Poetics book from MIT). Questions being asked are the usual: how do these pieces operate in terms of conventional genre, how do they make us rethink the issue of the author of the text, how is the text being used as image itself, etc.

Daniel McCarthy
http://eleganceandstyle.blogspot.com
Concerning the internet communities centered around file-sharing of bootleg live recordings of bands such as the Grateful Dead. Will research into pre-internet file-sharing issues, including those of copyright, and how this has changed. (Look at Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig). Nugs.net will be the primary focus of his research, but also will look at internet archives of prior years’ websites. How does the internet affect communities previously considered “underground” (punks, for example) – has this exposure killed some of the excitement? How has it turned a previous “hobby” into a “profession” – i.e. who is earning cash from this?

Thomas McCarthy
http://mccarthyscorner.blogspot.com
Will look at Borges and other writers of the speculative, metaphysical sort (Cortazar, the Oulipo) and the influence they have had on hypertext theory. Most of the concentration will be on Borges and how his intermingling of real-life historical events – “taking what is lying around there to begin with” – with his fictional world is a form of “interactive fiction.” (Could also look at Philip K. Dick, especially The Man in the High Tower.) Will have some discussion of how Borges developed some of these techniques as he made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft.

Cortney Murray
http://cortneysblog-cortney.blogspot.com/
Will look a celebrity gossip blogs and websites as well as mainstream new channels, such as MSNBC, Fox News Channel and CNN, devoted an unusual amount of time covering the death of Anna Nicole Smith as opposed to more substantial material. She will look at sites like tmc.com and perezhilton.com and ask questions of what keeps them going and why people have become so obsessed with this. How do these sites relate to more traditional fare like Us Weekly? How have the distinctions between mainstream media and self-published media collapsed? Is there more authority invested in a self-motivated obsessive than a paid journalist? Might also ask how these phenomena relate to things like daily talk shows and other forms of voyeuristic television like Reality TV. Ideally, would follow a story on the caliber of Anna Nicole Smith as it makes its way through the news.

Danielle Sanzone
http://daniellesmcblog.blogspot.com/
Will look at the phenomenon of fan fiction – fictional extensions of the reality of popular television shows – specifically concerning the show Grey’s Anatomy. Will ask questions of how this was done before the internet, and maybe also how some people have taken to creating video extensions of these fictional worlds. Should ask questions of genre, narrativity, and also the nature of writing style (have any of these authors managed to add legitimate new dimensions to their worlds?). Of course, must ask why this flourishes on the internet and what relationship it has to other web phenomena. Do the television producers care? Has fan fiction generated revenue for the show? Has fan fiction ever saved a show from being cancelled?

Brian Sullivan
http://stopremembering.blogspot.com
Will look at the videogame industry and the internet cultures that have arisen around it, such as the websites with news and reviews, but especially the discussion forums in which gamers “yell, fight, and talk amongst themselves.” How do the fans play a role in advancing the industry? Is there anything equating to a “celebrity” in gaming culture? I would like to see some question of “auteur theory” applied to video games – i.e. are there individual game creators whose personal stamps are so deep that people play their games just to extend their understanding of this creators’ work as a whole?

Kathryn Tomlinson
http://stk36695.blogspot.com/
Will investigate the issue of internet addiction, looking at statistical studies that try to determine the role the internet has played in changing general habits, especially social habits. What role does AIM and cell phones play? How has the increase in general “writing” changed how we think of text (is the culture more literary?) What are the major types of internet addiction, and are some of them more harmful than others? Does the computer industry attempt to promote this addiction the way cigarette companies did? This needs to have a sharper angle (we should discuss it more, and send me links).

Annalysa Coleman
http://annalysasblog.blogspot.com

Alyssa Machado
http://literatuream.blogspot.com

Lauren Pahl
http://lauren301.blogspot.com

All three of these students are interested in working on technology and the classroom. They should visit the offices of MAIT, the Stockton graduate degree in instructional technology. Lauren is particularly interested in asking questions about the purposes and functions of schools, where they succeed and what other options are available. Could probably look at Montessori instruction theory and relate that to what sorts of possibilities exist in cyberculture. These projects could all benefit from interviews with Stockton professors about their use of technology in the classroom, as well as with questionnaires to students about their experience with technology. Would be neat to be able to talk to Stockton graduates who have had to deal with technology in their professional lives.