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Key to dealing with students that want a grade changed: talk about what interests you academically. They will run in terror. [#]
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Published [Not] Gone Google Crazy
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Shared [Not] Gone Google Crazy
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I’ve already established that I have a certain weakness for toys, and a certain Google Toy found its way into my hands recently. That experience was pleasant, and I gave the device nearly two weeks. Push Gmail was nice, and I am a fan of the full keyboard in the device. I firmly believe that device inertia takes at minimum a week for us to allow new devices into our lives. However, it was ultimately the “Apps” available for my iPhone that drew me back to it at the end of the forced two week testing period. I still think it will be a fun device to play with as time goes on, but it isn’t something I’m excited about using.
Which, is really one of the reasons that I don’t jump out of my chair for a Sony Ericsson version of the device. The set of APIs currently available for the device, quite simply are to the level that Apple offers to iPhone developers. (In/De)spite the fact that developers must learn Cocoa to develop for the iPhone, they flock to it in droves, which is an impressive feat. The best Android Apps are those that I wish my iPhone had, but Apple has refused to open APIs for yet (*cough* *cough* power management *cough* *cough*). But the easy ability to create compelling user interfaces and applications that ultimately leverage what the iPhone is and is not are what makes it go.
As if my blog hadn’t managed to establish as a given fact, I’m a nerd. “Geeeeeeeeaaaaeeeek,” is a phrase that describes me and I have no reservations in that. Though I do remain steadfast in my un-dorkiness. But the splitting on hairs aside, I had a revelation while playing Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers on Xbox Live the other day. Magic: the Gathering (M:tG) (note: distinction is made between the XBLA title and the actual card game) is game designer training ground. Alright, let me rephrase that a bit more carefully. M:tG at its best is game designer training ground. At its worst it is what most online massively multiplayer games are, a race towards the nearest game crushing spoiler deck. However, those skills too are crucial for the game designer to stress and test their own designs. So, even at its worst it is a productive space for aspring game designers.
Shall we step back a few steps? Indeed. Continue reading »
Casey the Giant Toy Robot
Ocasionally it seems important to post something different. Thus, apparently, I am a Giant Toy Robot. More importantly, I am “#8 in a series of extraordinaryroadside attractions in Georgia.” As a 40 foot-tall toy robot, I should have had more friends in elementary school. But, I digress.
I wrote a post just about a year ago on how “Hackers and Hombrewers are NOT Pirates.” Like most of what I post to the web, it serves little more than to remind me later of the evolution of my thoughts on particularly relevant research interests. Like beer. Recently however, there has been a resurgence of commentary/thought on the decline of computer science programs. Though I now consider myself primarily a “historically inclined cultural anthropologist who studies cooperative work, with game development and the game industry as my primary lens,” I began my secondary education as a computer science and mathematics major with women’s studies and sociology as the instruments that later led me to graduate school.
What follows is my analysis of recent reports on how, “Lack of Programming Skills Puts U.S. Security at Risk,” and the “gender gap in perception of computer science,” [the actual report] are a product of a continual assault on the “hacker,” “the tinkerer,” and “hobbyist” more generally in our culture. To which I first say, “serves us right, what you reap, you sow.” Having gotten that off my chest, I’ll attempt to be a bit more constructive with what follows… Continue reading »
I love the “trap” or Trapeze bar in Athens. Occasionally they have glass nights, which provide me with future beer glassware.
CKODonnell on XBLA
With all of the items on my to do list, what on earth am I doing? I’m futzing around with making images of my Xbox Live Arcade Avatar so that I can post them online. Because that is time well spent, right? I can say something about gamer/street cred and social networks, but the truth of the situation is that I’m goofing off when I have much better things to be doing.
To which, I will respond with the quote that springs from the lips of my avatar: “What bus?” The proper response to such a query of course is, “That bus that is about to crush you, simpleton.” However, if you feel so compelled to create/use your own XBLA avatar images, may I recommend:
It likely has something to do with an internal impression that this is “summer” and I’m supposed to extract some element of relaxation from this time of the year. Instead things have been perhaps more frantic and significantly warmer. But this will only become more interesting as new additions to the family come this winter will further obliterate my growing task list.
The upside is that at the moment I am only about half-way through the summer “break” and have plenty of time in which to complete many of the projects before they take on much more life of their own. I guess that having too many things on the list is better than having nothing to say or think about. But, I’ve never been one to be at a loss for words.
CKODonnell Gamercard
Recent conversations with friends and colleagues has sent me down several possible rabbit holes that I have not yet investigated enough to be definitive, but work on Osy Osmosis continues as well as several other projects. As you can see from the link, I have recently purchased a domain name for that project in the hopes that Osy can soon find a more public home.
Enough blogging and playing with avatars, I must go earn my keep.
Well, I’m not sure at what location the deviance occurred, but my blog was compromised momentarily today. Though I may occasionally curse my iPhone and its inability to adequately convey to me my current location and all of its nuances (like rock in place of a street), it did alert me to the changing of the admin password on my site today. Of course I was sitting in a GES (Game Education Summit) panel at the time, which is why the changing of an admin password seemed problematic.
It was at this moment that I sprung into action. Could I log in? No. Can I log into my hosting provider? Yes. Can I look at the admin account for WordPress in PHP MySQL Admin? Yes. Had the password changed? Had the email account changed? Yes. Had it been confirmed? No. Email change. Password change. Password change. Password change. And the changes cascaded from there. I changed my password on nearly every account I log into regularly.
Of course these actions did not tell me what caused the initial intrusion, however. Poor password choice? WordPress exploit? Plugin exploit? Indeed I had not yet moved from 2.7.1 to 2.8, but I had not had the sense that a lack of upgrade would leave my blog thus exploitable.
Either way, the ordeal seems circumvented, though I would say thanks only to my vigilance in email maintenance on the iPhone. Either way, I’ve suddenly become much, much, much more paranoid for at least a day or two.
G1 Android Phone
I’m not sure what the cause is, but I’ve developed a recent fascination with yet another toy I do not have. My toy-lust is legendary, at least in my household and I frequently have difficulty restraining myself in their acquisition. This compulsion to acquire and tinker with bits of hardware is of course partially linked to my nerd history, but it has grown more eclectic with age. While I could explain away some of my desire for these objects with a particular lack during adolescence, it doesn’t really help me to understand what now draws me towards objects that I can tinker with.
Thus enters the new fascination, which comes at a time when I more than enough work to complete without this new distraction to enter my life. “How to Ditch Your iPhone for Android (by Unlocking a G1),” combined with “Unlock Your Google Phone” had me intrigued enough that I had this page up thinking about all the reasons why I needed to have yet another device to litter my work space.
Of course I’ve had a day or two to mull on it and I haven’t hit the “Add to Cart” button quite yet. It has nothing to do with any lack of love for my iPhone, simply that my device hacking compulsion was triggered quite against my will during a late night surfing session this weekend. You wait right there Google phone. I’ll be back again I’m sure.
Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook
Indeed.
As far as faculty/professors are concerned, I’ve always considered myself pretty cool, but I’m beginning to suspect that my students think of me much in the way that I thought of my more… challenging professors. Apparently my grade distributions are second only to the “law” faculty in the department and my ability and indeed desire to stick to syllabilical requirements has become well known in only one short year. Damn right. All of that said, as someone who teaches game design and classes about the history and political-economy of the videogame industry, I still think I’m pretty hip. I may make you work, but at least the source material is cool, right? I tend to not “do” finals, as they are already overdetermined. As if you (my student) hadn’t managed to already make your bed throughout the semester, why on earth would I offer a single moment in which to redeem yourself? I’m a consistency person.
So, this spring I actually held finals, though they had no impact on grades, officially. To the one student who asked, “Can I leave? I have real final I need to get ready for.” You are on notice. Two classes, two very distinct finals. Continue reading »