Saturday, January 29, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Scholarship Deadlines coming up Wednesday 1/26!
This Wednesday, January 26 is the deadline for the following scholarships:
Boren Scholarship: campus deadline for Boren Scholarship http://www.borenawards.org for summer, fall and AY. Available to students studying outside of Western Europe. Must turn in all supplemental materials to the GT Office of International Education by this date.
GT-Sponsored Scholarships: Available to Georgia Tech students going on Georgia Tech study abroad programs for Summer 2011. Application available here: http://www.oie.gatech.edu/sa/scholarships/index.php
Boren Scholarship: campus deadline for Boren Scholarship http://www.borenawards.org for summer, fall and AY. Available to students studying outside of Western Europe. Must turn in all supplemental materials to the GT Office of International Education by this date.
GT-Sponsored Scholarships: Available to Georgia Tech students going on Georgia Tech study abroad programs for Summer 2011. Application available here: http://www.oie.gatech.edu/sa/scholarships/index.php
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Coming of Age in Call of Duty: Black Ops
Ok, itÒ€s an awkward title but I use it as an allusion to Tom BoellstorffÒ€s book Coming of Age in Second Life which in turn is a play on Margaret MeadÒ€s much more famous ethnography. In a short blog post of course IÒ€m not going to do real ethnography but like Boellstorff I do wonder whether the tools of cultural analysis can be used to redeem (because they certainly canÒ€t edify) my recent delinquent immersion into the much acclaimed video game Call of Duty: Black Ops. When I was describing my interest in doing an ethnographic analysis of the game to a colleague of mine he snickered which is a sensible reaction. After all, why even try to redeem a game that falls squarely in the genre of a first person shooter where the main activity is killing (virtually) other people?
Why not just embrace pretend warfareÒ€s pleasures on face value? And isnÒ€t this total folly in light of the recent assassination attempt of Rep. Gifford in Arizona? ShouldnÒ€t we be moving away from symbolic violence?
There are those considerations, of course. And I wonÒ€t discount the desire for entertainment as a primary motivator for shelling out $300 on a Sony Playstation and another $45 on the actual game and a good portion of my waking life since I brought it home on Christmas Eve. If IÒ€ve learned about all sorts arcane weaponry like a Claymore mine and a China Lake I might like to say that IÒ€m doing it to become Ó€more deeply acquainted with the artifacts that make up and populate Call of DutyÒ€s culture.Ô€ But admittedly there are more base -- and less intellectual --motivations at work here.
So my colleagueÒ€s snickers are legitimate.
Still, serious studies of gaming culture and virtual worlds are increasingly common. Boellstorff isnÒ€t alone and you are more than likely to have a colleague or two who treats the enterprise with gravitas. Here at Weber State for example my colleague Greg Anderson in the Computer Science department recently finished a dissertation titled Ó€The Impact of Video Games on Team CohesionÔ€ at Indiana State University. As Boellstorff reminds us, when we venture into virtual worlds weÒ€re often plagued with the notion that weÒ€re engaging in escapism. But that doesnÒ€t mean that the experience canÒ€t bleed back into our real life in positive and constructive ways if we allow ourselves to reflect on the experience. HereÒ€s a rudimentary beginning. Think of the following as merely as a first day's set of field notes. If my spouse doesnÒ€t grab the Playstation away from my cold dead hands, perhaps something more substantive will follow later:
First, despite what anyone tells you, gaming, at least for an initiate like me, is a real learning experience. The learning might not be about texts, or numbers, but it is deeply and engagingly a kinesthetic education in how to use oneÒ€s hands to operate the PlaystationÒ€s controller. The first time I picked up this tool I couldnÒ€t do anything with it. But gradually, over the course of a few days of playing it begins to feel like an extension of oneÒ€s self. Following Matthew Crawford in Shopcraft as Soulcraft, maybe this intense use of oneÒ€s hands deserves more consideration than weÒ€ve given it up until now. Here is Crawford quoting Mike Rose in The Mind at Work:
х..our testaments to physical work are so focused on the values such work exhibits rather than in the thought it requires. It is a subtle but pervasive omissionŀ.It is as though in our cultural iconography we are given the muscled arm, sleeve rolled tight against biceps, but no thought bright behind the eye, no image that links the hand and the brain.Ԁ
To be sure, there are problems with extending the analogy between craftwork and gaming too far. One works with actual material things in the real world whereas the other works with things in virtual worlds. And craftsmanship, is about making things whereas the traditional first person shooter is primarily (although not exclusively) about destroying things. But the intense use of oneÒ€s hands (and oneÒ€s eyes) is still there.
Second, when I finished the campaign (one of four distinct games in the Black Ops software) the credits which scrolled up the screen lasted much longer than they do at the end of a movie. And what was even more notable was how large their pool of quality assurance testers was. (Testers are people who go through the software attempting to uncover and document bugs so that the programmers can then fix them). In spite of this, the game still had its share of bugs in it which impelled me as a gamer to patiently and laboriously discover work-arounds. Unless I engaged in this discovery process I couldnÒ€t proceed with the game. While thereÒ€s much more to quality assurance testing than just this, itÒ€s an important part of the process. As such the game is socializing at least some section of the gaming public to procedures they will come across in the work force.
Third, Black Ops isnÒ€t just developed by programmers. In the credits youÒ€ll see a whole slew of citations to art directors, character artists, effects artists and environmental artists (to name just a few of the positions) that suggest that aesthetics isnÒ€t just a passing concern to the studio which produced it.
In fact, unless youÒ€ve got an antiquated Arnoldian high brow sensibility, youÒ€d be hard pressed not to call this art and very engrossing and engaging art at that. So if there are manual and intellectual and work cultures embedded in Black Ops there are also artistic and aesthetic cultures to be found as well.
None of the above is to say that the symbolic violence which is produced and consumed in gaming culture isnÒ€t something that we should be worried about. But this violence is embedded in a whole slew of other cultural practices and sensibilities which make gaming's simple dismissal unrealistic. Which might be another way of saying that gaming ethonography is good; we can learn a little more about who we are and who we want to be by promoting it.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Boren Scholarship Advising
The GT campus deadline for the 2011-2012 Boren Scholarship is coming up quickly on Wednesday, January 26th. This is the date by which students should have finalized their online application and turned in supporting documents (including letters of reference) to the Office of International Education (Savant Building, suite 211) so that we may complete the campus review by the national deadline of February 10th. (See Boren Awards website for application details: http://www.borenawards.org/boren_scholarship/how_apply.html)
As the Campus Representative, I have set aside time next week for 20-30 minute one-on-one advisement sessions for students interested in gaining feedback on their applications. Please call the Office of International Education to reserve a 30-minute time slot to meet (404) 894-7475.
Available dates and time blocks are:
Monday, Jan 10: 2-4pm
Tuesday, Jan. 11: 9-11am, 2-5pm
Wednesday, Jan. 12: 2-5pm
Thursday, Jan. 13: 11am-2pm
Friday, Jan. 14: 9am-12pm
For more information on scholarship for study abroad, please visit the OIE website at: http://www.oie.gatech.edu/sa/scholarships/
As the Campus Representative, I have set aside time next week for 20-30 minute one-on-one advisement sessions for students interested in gaining feedback on their applications. Please call the Office of International Education to reserve a 30-minute time slot to meet (404) 894-7475.
Available dates and time blocks are:
Monday, Jan 10: 2-4pm
Tuesday, Jan. 11: 9-11am, 2-5pm
Wednesday, Jan. 12: 2-5pm
Thursday, Jan. 13: 11am-2pm
Friday, Jan. 14: 9am-12pm
For more information on scholarship for study abroad, please visit the OIE website at: http://www.oie.gatech.edu/sa/scholarships/
Sunday, January 2, 2011
The Choice Has Been Made
After years of visiting dozens of colleges, sitting through far too many standardized tests, worrying about report cards, spending countless nights exploring reviews on Unigo.com in the wee hours of the morning, and boring my friends and family with long-winded rants about which college may be right for me, I have finally chosen a college. After a great deal of deliberation over my winter break, I sent my deposit to the University of Chicago on December 31st, just in time to have an anxiety-free 2011 with no more waiting.
As an accepted student in (likely) the most competitive class year to date, I am feeding what one education blog calls Chicago's "institutional ego" to become more on par with schools like Harvard or Stanford as far as prestige is concerned. Following up from my most recent post on application inflation, Chicago is the school most in the spotlight right now because it is moving up the prestige ranks (ironically determined by rejection rate) at an alarming pace. To put the school's growing competitiveness in perspective, a Chicago Maroon article detailing last year's admission season noted the fact that in 1993, the year of my birth, Chicago's acceptance rate was 77%. That means that during my short lifetime, this institution has become more than four times more selective. Harvard, by comparison has become roughly twice as selective in this same time period.
Is this the reason I chose Chicago? No. But this news is strongly correlated with what did draw me to the school as perhaps its greatest resource: a brilliant, engaging undergraduate population that I know will challenge me to become all that I can be.
The question then arises: how did I know that I would fit in with Chicagoans? A few reasons:
1. They accepted me. As strange as it may sound, I have long been prepared for rejection from this unique intellectual community. If I wasn't meant to be part of it, I would not have received an offer of acceptance, and I would have found my place elsewhere. The institution wanting me made me want it.
2. I had a fantastic time on my overnight visit. I discovered that life at Chicago had the social-academic balance I wanted in my college experience. This was made clearest by the house system (like that in Harry Potter) enhancing the academic experience I got from classroom visits.
3. The Facebook group for class of 2015 admitted students has been an extremely compelling advocate for my choice. I have, in two short weeks of this community existing, met several people I would consider true friends. Discussion questions on the forum such as "what is your favorite fruit?" turned quickly from taste to world history to literary devices and ended in foreign languages. I love the intellectual energy so apparent in what would be my future classmates. (Interestingly, it has also been noted that as the entering class becomes more selective from year to year, the Facebook group discussions have become more lively.)
4. Compared to the small liberal arts colleges I have been considering alongside Chicago, notably Swarthmore, I felt that Chicago could encompass the small school feel if I wanted it via the house system breaking up the undergraduate population into small families of around 40-100 students. Meanwhile, Chicago's unique position as a research institution (8th in the world) coupled with the "best undergraduate academic experience" in the nation (Princeton Review, 2007) provides me with the community feeling I want with room built in for the spontaneity that defines the college experience.
5. I just felt that it was right for me, and that I wouldn't regret the choice. It's obviously not a perfect institution, but it was one where I felt that I could work around the schools weaknesses.
Thank you for all of your support along my personal journey towards both finding the college right for me and being admitted to it. I can't tell you how many complimentary emails and comments from bloggers have made my day. On the sculpture picture below (Cobb gate), I have made it passed the admissions committee (the dragon gargoyle at the base) and am officially a puny first year, bound to metaphorically struggle up the slope until I have completed my fourth year, at which time I will apparently sprout wings and proudly fly out into the real world.
But it's not time for goodbye, and my work here isn't over yet. In the coming months, I plan on exploring and perfecting my own study habits in preparation for my college experience, inspired by what productivity genius Cal Newport has done on his own blog, Study Hacks.
Now, please excuse me while I dump out three file cabinets of college view-books and donate my Princeton Review books to the next generation of college searching students.
As an accepted student in (likely) the most competitive class year to date, I am feeding what one education blog calls Chicago's "institutional ego" to become more on par with schools like Harvard or Stanford as far as prestige is concerned. Following up from my most recent post on application inflation, Chicago is the school most in the spotlight right now because it is moving up the prestige ranks (ironically determined by rejection rate) at an alarming pace. To put the school's growing competitiveness in perspective, a Chicago Maroon article detailing last year's admission season noted the fact that in 1993, the year of my birth, Chicago's acceptance rate was 77%. That means that during my short lifetime, this institution has become more than four times more selective. Harvard, by comparison has become roughly twice as selective in this same time period.
Is this the reason I chose Chicago? No. But this news is strongly correlated with what did draw me to the school as perhaps its greatest resource: a brilliant, engaging undergraduate population that I know will challenge me to become all that I can be.
The question then arises: how did I know that I would fit in with Chicagoans? A few reasons:
Thank you for all of your support along my personal journey towards both finding the college right for me and being admitted to it. I can't tell you how many complimentary emails and comments from bloggers have made my day. On the sculpture picture below (Cobb gate), I have made it passed the admissions committee (the dragon gargoyle at the base) and am officially a puny first year, bound to metaphorically struggle up the slope until I have completed my fourth year, at which time I will apparently sprout wings and proudly fly out into the real world.
But it's not time for goodbye, and my work here isn't over yet. In the coming months, I plan on exploring and perfecting my own study habits in preparation for my college experience, inspired by what productivity genius Cal Newport has done on his own blog, Study Hacks.
Now, please excuse me while I dump out three file cabinets of college view-books and donate my Princeton Review books to the next generation of college searching students.
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