Spence Blog Post #7

My definition of personal privacy would be information that I would want to keep for myself and only myself such as matters that deal with family and my numerous amounts of health issues. The aspects of my own life that I wouldn’t mind sharing would be musical interests, religious beliefs, and any sort of aspects of my life that can benefit people by word of mouth. However, I wouldn’t dare share any sort of information of my own accord since I value privacy very heavily, I would only share if people wanted to know. Everything that is on my own Facebook is stuff that I wouldn’t mind sharing, but I tend to keep even those interests hidden since I am not an extrovert. The people that I only share information with are my closest friends, but I would never tell a random stranger that I don’t know my entire life story. When I tried searching my name on Google by name alone I got a ton of sites linking to a Josh Spence that is an Australian pitcher for the San Diego Padres. I tried typing up my disease called psoriasis along with the high school that I graduated from to my name and got similar results about the pitcher for the San Diego Padres. I tried typing up my name to www.spokeo.com and got a bunch of Josh/Joshua Spences but I still haven’t found any Josh Spences in Blacksburg. So I typed my name along with Blacksburg, VA and there were no results listed. Apparently, the Internet doesn’t seem to think that I exist and that is fine by me.

Spence Creative Proposal

My group presentation topic is future technology advancements dealing with health related issues.  I envision that the future of the health system would place emphasis in artificial life forms, precise and accurate medical instruments, and faster system of transporting medicine, vaccinations, and medical instruments. Some ideas of what the future would hold would be making babies into superior human life forms, having lasers to open up people for surgery with accuracy and speed to avoid more loss of blood, and placing medicine into a capsule in a tube that shoots up or down to deliver what is needed with absolute speed. I will place my ideas of the future for the health system in a drawing of a human figure that is divided in half. Each identical body part of the human figure will represent a medical practice, one side for current medical practices and the other side for future medical practices. In order to accomplish this project, I would simply need a poster and writing utensils (preferably markers in all sorts of colors) and the knowledge of current medical practices that are common on the medical field. My plan to complete the project would be to start researching till November 11.2011, and I will place onto paper then onto poster for the week before Thanksgiving Break. 

*It is guaranteed that I will not follow this plan since I am prone to procrastinating.

In-Class Writing #9

The audience of the article would be Facebook users participating in the workforce due to the topic affecting only employees looking to get a job.

The situation that the article is responding to would be employers looking through Facebook and other social media sites, that potential and current employees use, as part of the background check required for employment.

The author's position is against the issue of Facebook and other social media being used for background check.

The sources in this article are reports from Financial Week and the New York Daily News that employers are increasingly using Facebook for background checks and that these employers might face some legal issues about this practice due to potential discrimination from employers.

The rhetorical appeals used are logos and pathos. Logos appeal is found in the article through questioning the legality of the practice of using social media as a source for background checks.

This article would be an acceptable source for an essay for online privacy as the employers violate employees privacy through looking at personal information about said employees, the credibility of the article is backed up by two sources, the article is about 4 years old, although it may not be as current as it could have due to social media changing rapidly every year, and the comprehension of the article provides the reader with a message about internet privacy of employees that is clear and concise for understanding.

Spence In-Class Writing #8

My personal list of what digital native ought to know

1. 300 (movie)
2. Batman:  The Animated Series (TV show)
3. Firefly (TV series)
4. V for Vendetta (movie)
5. Discovery by Daft Punk (album)

What we collectively agreed on as group

5. 300- Features one of the most memorable action-packed movies of past decade, featuring possibly the most memorable quote of the decade.
300. Dir Jack Snyder. Perf. Gerard Butler, Lena Heady, and Dominic West Warner Bros. 2006 Film.

4. Friday-Must be remembered as the worst song of the decade, and that NO ONE should write a song with such horrible lyrics EVER again.

"Rebecca Black - Friday - Official Music Video" Online Posting. You Tube, 16 Sep. 2011.  Fri. 28  Oct. 2011 

3. South Park-Brought the world of cartoons to adults, making fun of the important issues around the world.
South Park. Comedy Central. COM, New York. 13 Aug. 1998. Television.

2. The Godfather-The movie highly regarded as one of the best movies of all time.
Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Per. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, and Diane Keaton. Paramount Pictures, 1972. Film.

1. Facebook-Brought social media on the Internet as a necessity rather than a luxury to know what's going on in with friends.
Zuckerberg, Mark. Facebook.com. Facebook. 4 Feb. 2004. Fri 28 Oct. 2011.

In-Class Writing #7

The video that was shown in class was an excerpt of Glenn Beck's FOX News TV show discussing how violent video games adds onto the desensitization of violence of today's youth. Glenn Beck first described how in World War I that soldiers in battle were hesitant to shoot even when an enemy is rushing towards them and that the soldiers of today were quick to shoot the enemy with the usage of shooting simulators. Beck tied the information about soldiers using simulators to become more effective during battle to Grand Theft Auto IV numbing kids to violence and training kids to kill.

Beck provided the statistic that 15 percent of soldiers hit the target during their first target practice. Beck stated that in order to increase the accuracy rate of soldiers, they used human shaped targets for target practice. Beck explained that the statistic grew from 15% in World War I to 55% in the Korean War. Eventually, the statistic has risen all the way to 99% accuracy rate for soldiers to hit their target during target practice. By Beck's logic when kids get a hold of shooting and crime simulators such as GTA IV, they would be able commit murder and commit crimes more effectively.

The video tries to persuade and inform viewers of Glenn Beck's TV show that violent video games such as GTA IV are harmful to a child's state of mind through numbing the mind of the shock of violence. Glenn Beck explains that shooting simulators are used by the military to increase the hand-eye coordination of soldiers for better efficiency in battle. Children are getting their hands on these shooting simulators in the form of video games which by Beck's logic is harmful to the brain during the period of youth. Children playing GTA IV will become more effective killers and possess a criminal mind to commit crimes on a grander scheme. By Glenn Beck's logic, children can kill humans with little sense of remorse as a soldier kills the enemy in battle.

*Glenn Beck's opinions do not reflect the opinions of the author of this blog.

In-Class Writing #6

My personal experience with music piracy is that I don't download music illegally, due to not wanting to rip off some of my favorite bands that I respect when I have money to spare. My understanding of music piracy is that through the Internet, people would download music illegally for free knowing that it wouldn't be likely for them to get caught. There are two widely shared opinions about the topic of music piracy:  1. Music piracy is taking money out of musicians' pockets and leave them with little reward for all of the hard work and dedications that they make to recording their music. 2. Music piracy helps spread music out to people who can't afford music. My opinion is that I support what effects that music piracy brings which is the spread of music that won't likely be heard on the radio or place in the top 40 charts.

The article that I read is "The Age of Music Piracy is Officially Over." The exigence of the article was to explain to readers that music piracy isn't necessary anymore due to songs being incredibly cheap. The author's purpose is to show the readers why music piracy is unnecessary and the author's position detracts music piracy as a way to obtain music. The support that the author provides for his position is that audiophiles should go back to vinyl if they hate the sound of digital music if they want good sound quality and that downloading songs illegally takes money out of the music industry used to produce good quality music. This article confronts my opinion on music piracy in that the articles is stating that music piracy takes money from the music industry but I think that music piracy more money to be gain through more people attending concerts and purchase music of the bands that they found respect for.

Spence In-Class Writing #5

The kind of person that Tom Hanks shows on Facebook is a real American guy that we all could hang out and share a beer with. Tom Hanks has put out a couple statuses a month and usually he signs them all with Hanx at the end. He apparently injured his thumb a couple months back by closing a gate on it, so he puts up “thumbnails” every two weeks which is an example of Hanx’s sense of humor. Hanx supports keeping Shakespeare alive and has great respect for the literary arts. Tom Hanks has a great interest in sports and he would congratulate the team he is rooting for as well as the team that is opposing his team which shows a great sense of sportsmanship from Hanx. On his info page he states that although you may or may not like his movies and he either is or isn’t in good shape, he is going to live his life. Tom Hanks does have a sense of humor about himself due to the picture of him mock running like an action star was the picture he chose as his profile picture. Tom Hanks doesn’t take himself seriously and I feel that what is puts out there fits the image of him being an real American guy that any person would want to hang out with.

The ads that were displayed while I was sifting through Tom Hanks’ Facebook page were somewhat random from advertising Wal-Mart to Grunge rock to Batman products. Though there was a common trend in some of the advertisements in video games such as Battlefield and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 as well as an advertisement of supporting the military. In particular, the Call of Duty:  MW3 trailer had a caption on the side that states “In the world’s darkest hour are you willing to do what is necessary?” Thus in times of war, the ad is asking the reader through the pathos appeals of fighting for one’s country and the thrill of a challenge are you ready to do whatever is necessary to defeat the enemy? There were many advertisements that revolve around the military and war due to two of Tom Hanks’ arguably biggest roles were in Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan both movies that takes place in times of war. Thus as a symbol for America, Tom Hanks Facebook page would be filled with advertisements about the military due to the one thing that this country can agree as a whole, our support of our troops.

Spence Blog Post # 5

                The overall argument that the author is trying to portray in this article is that social networking sites can preserve and culture real relationships yet promote faulty relationships based on a person’s narcissism.

                The intended audience for the New Atlantis would be people who have at least an interest of the science implemented in modern technology. The audience that Christine Rosen does not intend to write for is the older folks that are not into social networking sites. Given that the article uses social sciences to back up the human interactions on social networking sites would be an example of how the articles of the New Atlantis are formulated. Since the article is written by Christine Rosen, senior editor of the New Atlantis, this isn’t her first article so she knows how to properly compose an argumentative article. The article that Rosen wrote is biased because argumentative articles are supposed to support one main point over the other. Rosen’s particular bias was that although social networking sites preserves relationships made in the real world, the social networking sites also promote narcissism of a person.

The evidence that the Rosen uses to support her claims are the different ways to interact and friend people on various social networking sites for the reader to understand how social networking sites work. She talks about how social networking sites are becoming big booming businesses by the amount of registered users on MySpace which is over 100 million users and how much Rupert Murdoch bought out MySpace for $580 million. She also cites NBC’s Dateline about how a police officer posed as a 19 year old boy and found out where the girls involved in the experiment lived and their names to inform readers about the danger of posting information online.

Overall, I agree with everything that Rosen has stated about social networking sites in general. I believe that social networking sites can maintain relationships with people that I haven’t seen in person in years. I also believe that social networking sites are promoting narcissism online due to a person having to create their own little space of information that is related in some way to a person him or herself.

Spence Blog Post #4

1.       The advertisement that I have selected is the commercial for the original copy of Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was released back in 1986.

2.       The advertisement for the video game Legend of Zelda starts off with a nerdy kid and a rebel jock sitting on the couch, looking through the Nintendo newsletter. The rebel jock sees some screenshots of the Legend of Zelda and wants to play the game. Luckily, the nerd has a copy of the Legend of Zelda so the jock will be able to play this game. After the Legend of Zelda has been placed in the cartridge slot, these kids start rapping about what sorts of adventures that the viewer can expect while playing this game. After the clips of some intense sword swiping, dungeon crawling action have been shown while the jock plays the game, a screenshot of the NES and a copy of Legend of Zelda appears. The announcer states that kids should ask their parents to help them hook up their NES before playing the Legend of Zelda. Also the announcer states that the NES and the Legend of Zelda are sold separately to let the viewer know that Legend of Zelda isn’t going to come with the NES in a package deal.

3.       The ways that the advertisement tries to gain the audience’s attention is mainly through the catchy rap that the kids in the commercial recite.

4.       The rhetoric appeal of ethos is satisfied in the commercial through the clips of gameplay that occurs in the Legend of Zelda to allow the viewer what to expect while playing this game. The appeals of pathos and logos are satisfied by the kids explaining the viewer about Legend of Zelda through rap and exclamations from the kids about how intense the gameplay was to prove that if you want to be as cool as the kids in the commercial and experience exciting adventures beyond your wildest dreams, you got to own a copy of the Legend of Zelda. The kind of desires that this advertisement uses is youthfulness and the sense of adventure.

5.       The target audience for this particular advertisement is intended for kids and young adults. The aim for the advertisement is proven not only by the catchy rap that kids are supposed to find hip, but during the end of the advertisement, the announcer states that the viewer should ask their parents to hook their NES up to play The Legend of Zelda.

6.       Since the audience is obviously kids and young adults, the advertisement assumes that these kids have the attention span of a goldfish and can by sway into wanting a toy or game from one ad to the next. So by showing clips of exhilarating gameplay from the Legend of Zelda and the rap that explains that actions that main character (Link) must perform to achieve success in this game, the viewers would remember that this product long after the advertisement is finished.

7.       The images of Link slicing up his enemies with sword provide the viewer a sense of action and the images of Link roaming around the field and exploring dungeons provide the view a sense of adventure. Thus, the viewer will associate Legend of Zelda as a game that provides the rush of adventure that a kid would want which will compel kids to buy this game.

8.       The medium that I have seen the advertisement on is on YouTube, but the ad was originally aired on television during the year of 1986. Television was the way to advertise video games during the 80’s due to viewers actually seeing what to expect of the gameplay that a game offers, and other mediums at the time could not do what the television can.