MyFavMusic: Just listened to the "Song to Woody" by Bob Dylan on the "Bob Dylan" album. Added to my "FOLK FAVS - 1000 Recordings" playlist on Spotify

Fav track from album: Song to Woody
By Bob Dylan
From the album Bob Dylan

Added to FOLK FAVS - 1000 Recordings playlist by William Hart on November 24, 2017 at 01:02PM

See info on 1000 Recordings

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SocietyMassCom: How to Design a Game (W13-P4) Fa17

Let's design a game.  No, not a full-blown game.  Think a basic plan.  A draft.  An outline.
Are there certain types of games that you like to play?  Perhaps you have an idea for a game like the types of games you play?

How do you design a good game? What are the components of good game design?  Let's see what we need to know and then we'll design a game.




Game design: "the implementation of a story or gameplay idea into a playable form" (Crash Course).
It includes the "art, programming and writing that goes into a game."

Early in the game design process there may be sketches and pencil and paper versions of the game.  Think of this as the early drafts.

Basic building blocks of game design:

• Space: "the sound, the lighting, the color, and the physical space" of the game.  The environment in which the game is played.
• Components: "the objects that exist in the space and are used to play the game."
• Mechanics: "involve what the player can actually do in the game, so think verbs."  The activities that the player can do within the game.
• Goals: what the players are trying to achieve.
• Rules: "help players understand how to play the game."  They define the game. 

Missing component:
Story: the characters and plot of the game.

So, now let's develop a draft of what is called a game design document.

In the game design document, give your game a title and this describe the each of the building blocks of the game.  It might be helpful to start with goals.  You might also find some sketches helpful.


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SocietyMassCom: Video Games & Violence (W13-P3) Fa17

Screen capture from an Assassin's Creed game.

What do we learn from video games?
What do children learn from video games?   Aggression?  Violence?


To help us think about that, let's first look at some the latest research on the topic.

"Actually, violent video games don’t create violent children, study says"


If interested, you can read the original research article that the news article is based on ("Video Gaming and Children’s Psychosocial Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study").

The news article (in Salon) does not provide context.  There is no mention of past research or other current research on violence and video games.  Let's take care of that.





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SocietyMassCom: What is a Game? (W13-P2) Fa17

Let's start with this Crash Course video.  We'll have some questions after.




What games do you play?

What is a game?

Game: "a construct that organizes play through a series of rules, for the purpose of achieving a set of goals, overcoming obstacles, and/or attaining an objective" (Crash Course).

Crawford's categories... playthings... playthings with a goal... challenge ... challenge with second party involved ... conflict ... participants do interact or interfere ---> Game

Why play games?  Why do you play games?



What's gamification?

gamification:"the use of game-like mechanics, such as earning points, badges or rewards for doing certain actions, in non-game settings" (Pavlik & McIntosh).

Serious games?  Examples?

serious games:"Games created to be fun and educational, using game dynamics to instruct players on topics" (Pavlik & McIntosh).



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SocietyMassCom: Interactivity and IF (W13-P1) Fa17

Ever read any of the books from the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) series?

How were these books different compared to "regular" books?

Were they interactive?  How so?

interactivity: "For digital-media purposes, it consists of three main elements: (1) a dialog that occurs between a human and a computer program, (2) a dialog that occurs simultaneously or nearly so, and (3) the audience has some measure of control over what media content it sees and in what order." (Pavlik & McIntosh).

This definition work for a CYOA book?  Why, why not?




Ever play any interactive fiction?

interactive fiction: "often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment" (Wikipedia).

One of the first IF games was Colossal Cave Adventure.

Before the fancy graphics of video games, text-based games like Colossal Cave Adventure, were the first forms of interactive fiction.

Let's play.



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ComTheory: Social Learning Theory and Video Games (W13-P2) [VID]

Screen capture from an Assassin's Creed game.

What do we learn from video games?
What do children learn from video games?   Aggression?  Violence?


What theory would you use to answer those and related questions?  How would you set up the research to test the theory?

To help us think about that, let's first look at some the latest research on the topic.

"Actually, violent video games don’t create violent children, study says"


If interested, you can read the original research article that the news article is based on ("Video Gaming and Children’s Psychosocial Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study").

The news article (in Salon) does not provide context.  There is no mention of past research or other current research on violence and video games.  Let's take care of that.




Now let's return to the initial questions.

What do we learn from video games? Aggression?  Violence?
What theory would you use to answer those and related questions?  How would you set up the research to test the theory?

What is the relationship between research and theory?

Would GAM be helpful?   The General Aggression Model described in Baran & Davis.

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ComTheory: Social Learning Theory and Entertainment Education (W13-P1) [VID]

Entertainment education is part of a larger concept called development communication.

With this type of development we are working with the development of nations.

Development: "purposive changes undertaken in a society to achieve what may be regarded generally as a different ('improved') state of social and economic affairs"(Hernández-Ramos & Schramm, 1989).

Development projects typically focus on certain areas/issue of a society (e.g. agriculture, health, nutrition, family planning, women's empowerment, etc.)

Development communication: the use of communication technology and principles to aid in the development of a society.

The idea of presenting a development message within a fictional program is the type of development communication that is called entertainment education.  The World Bank is a multinational organization that uses entertainment education in their work.  See the video below for examples and background information.




Below is another example of entertainment education.  Tim Reid, noted Norfolk State University alumnus and actor/director/producer, and NSU students (Maryna Kariuk and Shimira Cole) were involved in the making of "Hear My Son".  How exactly is this an example of entertainment education?


Hear My Son from Legacy Media Institute on Vimeo.


One of the key originators of the entertainment education concept is Miguel Sabido.  He used entertainment education strategies in television, specifically soap operas in Mexico and other countries.

Sabido developed a theory for the construction of successful entertainment education projects.  It was perhaps more a meta-theory in that it brought together a variety of theories from a variety of fields into one meta-theory.

One theory that Sabido drew upon was that of Bandura's social learning theory. Two key concepts in social learning theory are imitation and identification.

imitation: "The direct reproduction of observed behavior" (Baran & Davis, p. 170).

identification: "A special form of imitation that springs from wanting to be and trying to be like an observed model relative to some broader characteristics or qualities" (Baran & Davis, p. 170).

Do you see how Bandura's concepts of imitation and identification fit in the videos above?

If you were to develop a development communication project that was entertainment education how would you used social learning theory?





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MyFavMusic: Just listened to the "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan on the "The Times They Are A-Changin'" album. Added to my "FOLK FAVS - 1000 Recordings" playlist on Spotify

Fav track from album: The Times They Are A-Changin’
By Bob Dylan
From the album The Times They Are A-Changin’

Added to FOLK FAVS - 1000 Recordings playlist by William Hart on November 8, 2017 at 10:28PM

See info on 1000 Recordings

Listen on Spotify

My musical interests on Tumblr

SocietyMassCom: Marconi, de Forest, Armstrong & Sarnoff (W12-P2) Fa17

Filmmaker, Ken Burns, told the story of radio in his documentary "Empire of the Air."  

In the documentary, Burns highlights the story of inventor Lee de Forest, for example. 

Here is a short YouTube video on de Forest's audion.

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SocietyMassCom: Granville Woods (W12-P1) Fa17

Several inventor played important roles in the development of audio technologies.  Let's talk about them.
Let's start with Granville Woods.

But first a little musical interlude...
Pay special attention to about 2:49-2:53 of video.

Now, let's return to giving Granville Woods our special attention.

In 1913...

B.J. Nolan, Tennessee patent lawyer said:

“I never knew a Negro to even suggest a new idea. Much less try to patent one. And I have dealt with them all my life. P.S. I have asked other lawyers around me for data of Negro inventions. And they take it as a joke.”

Com Technologist: Granville Woods

• 1884: Inventor of improved telephone transmitter
• 1885: Inventor of telegraphony
• 1887: Inventor of induction telegraph

35+ other patents

Why not mentioned in history books along side Edison, Bell, etc.?


Granville Woods: His story

• Sometimes called the “Black Edison”
• Born in 1856 in Australia or Ohio
• Went to work at young age
• Mainly self-educated / read anything he could find on electricity.
• Worked as fireman and then engineer on railroad.

Telephone invented in 1870s by Bell

Early 1880s, Telephone Transmitter
Woods: “My invention relates to a method of and apparatus for the transmission of articulate speech and other sounds through the medium of electricity.”

1885: Inventor of telegraphony
A combination telephone and telegraph.
What need does this meet?


1887 induction telegraph
Woods: “for the purpose of averting accidents by keeping each train informed of the whereabouts of the one immediately ahead of following it, in communicating with the stations from moving trains…”

Granville Woods: His story

• Tried to market his inventions himself.
• Sold/Gave up rights to many of his patents to corporations like: American Bell Telephone Company, General Electric and Westinghouse.
• Died 1910 in virtual poverty.

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MyFavMusic: Just listened to the "John Henry" by Paul Robeson, Lawrence Brown on the "Songs of Struggle (& More)" album. Added to my "FOLK FAVS - 1000 Recordings" playlist on Spotify

Fav track from album: John Henry
By Paul Robeson, Lawrence Brown
From the album Songs of Struggle (& More)

Added to FOLK FAVS - 1000 Recordings playlist by William Hart on November 6, 2017 at 08:08PM

See info on 1000 Recordings

Listen on Spotify

My musical interests on Tumblr