Scene opens with Marcus laying down next to Ange in their tent. Ange is laying with her eyes wide open, with a look on her face indicating she is lost in thought. Marcus is sleeping. Marcus is tall with a broad, strong frame. He has dark brown hair with green eyes. Ange is petite with long black hair and intensely blue eyes. Marcus begins to stir, opens his eyes and looks up at Ange. Camera is looking down at them from a side angle.

MARCUS

 How long have you been awake for?

 ANGE

I don’t know… I didn’t really sleep too well.

 (She sits up and looks down to the ground, as if something is troubling her.)

MARCUS

 Aw I’m sorry. Are you okay? You look upset.

 ANGE

I’m fine. I was just thinking about Zeb and Masha. Masha seemed so uptight and worried about stuff. I know that must be her nature, but she seemed so worried about something. Almost like she was scared.

(Pause)

 …and Zeb seemed so relaxed and happy. Almost giddy about something. I got a weird feeling from him, Marcus. Like creeped out when he was sitting with us.

 MARCUS

Ange, come on. Zeb is cool. He risked his life to bring me that note and practically saved my life after the Vampire party.  I don’t know what you’re so worried about.

(Marcus stands up and starts to get ready to pack up camp) 

ANGE

 I don’t know… something just felt off. He was just weirding me out.  Don’t you think it was weird Masha gave you the flashdrive so quickly before Zeb came? And then we saw Zeb going with Johnstone!

  MARCUS

 Ange. I don’t know why she is here, or how she even found out Zeb and Masha were still alive and would be here. I don’t know what to think, and I’m worried about it too. But if you’re implying that Zeb is on Johnstone’s side, well, you’re out of your mind.

 (Ange stands up next to Marcus and looks at him)

ANGE

Come on, Marcus! Think about it. He gives you a note claiming to have shared a prison cell with Daryll, but he doesn’t give you any information that makes it obvious he really knew Daryll. Then he escapes seamlessly from Gitmo-by-the-bay,  even with the tightest security this country has ever seen, and somehow tracks you down to give you the note? All without the DHS knowing about it? And then after the Vampire party you two find each other, set up camp under a random overpass, and the DHS find you within hours? It all sounds like too much to be a coincidence.  And now, Johnstone shows up to Burning Man and runs into Zeb out of the blue? I may have misread her, but she doesn’t seem like the Burning Man-type to me.

(Pause)

 She has someone on the inside. And I think it is Zeb. I don’t trust him.

 (Marcus pauses for a moment, and looks away from Ange. Marcus sits down.)

 MARCUS

Ange. I really think you’re reading too much into this.

ANGE

 Marcus, has Darryl even mentioned anything to you about Zeb?

 MARCUS

 No. But he never talks about his time in Gitmo. That shit really messed with his head.

 ANGE

 Well we need to talk to Darryl about Gitmo before I can trust Zeb. The way he just disappeared with Johnstone was a little suspicious. And I’m worried for Masha. I didn’t even really like the girl…but I could tell she was scared about something.

MARCUS

 Ah, alright Ange. We’ll talk to Darryl as soon as we get home if it makes you feel better.

 ANGE

 Thank you. I’m just worried we might be in danger too…and I need to be sure Zeb isn’t working for the DHS before I can trust him.

MARCUS

Okay, I understand.

Marcus and Ange kiss. The scene fades to black.

The scene opens with Marcus and Ange knocking on the door to Darryl’s house. They knock for a long time, with no answer to the door.

MARCUS

Darryl! Open the door! It’s Marcus!

(Marcus knocks again. Waits. Then just opens the door himself)

Marcus and Ange walk into the house and find Daryll sitting on the couch watching TV. Darryl looks unshaven, and is in his pajamas. Darryl is short with dark skin and dark hair.

MARCUS

Dude, don’t you know you’re supposed to answer the door when someone knocks?

 DARRYL

 Sorry…just didn’t really want to see anyone.

ANGE

Sorry to bother you Darryl! It’s my fault…I dragged Marcus here. He knew you didn’t want visitors. But we just wanted to check in and see how you were doing.

 (Ange and Marcu sit down on the chairs opposite the couch)

 DARRYL

 Nah, you guys are fine. It’s just my aunts and uncles and neighbors come over to see how I’m doing every single day. It is so annoying. And I can’t be bothered to answer the door anymore. But anways, how was the Burning Man?

MARCUS

It was crazy, man! You would have loved it! We should go next year.

 ANGE

 Yeah, it was absolutely ridiculous. The art was so cool, and there were a lot of people there.

(pause)

 We ran into some old people we knew from a few years ago. Marcus met them when the whole DHS thing was happening. Actually, I think you know one of them… (Pause briefly) Do you know a Zeb, Darryl?

DARRYL

 Nope… Doesn’t sound familiar. How do you guys know him? Did he go to Chavez?

Marcus and Ange look at each other, Marcus scratches his head.

 MARCUS

No…he didn’t go to Chavez. But I think you met him while we were still in high school.

(pause, Agnes touches Marcus as if to urge him to continue talking)

MARCUS

Darryl, this guy I met during all the DHS chaos… His name is Zeb. He escaped from Gitmo and sent me a note. The note said that you were still alive, and that he shared a prison cell with you before he escaped. Are you sure you don’t remember someone named Zeb?

Darryl pauses for a long time, and looks straight ahead at the TV for a long time.

DARRYL

They put me in my own cell. It was a way they tortured me…not letting me talk to anyone. The only people I ever saw were the DHS people questioning me, bringing me food or changing my the bandages for my stab wound

 Agnes stands up suddenly as if she just had a great idea.

ANGE

Marcus, do you have your laptop with you? And the flashdrive?

MARCUS

Yeah…why?

ANGE

Let me see it.

(Marcus gives Ange the laptop and the flashdrive. Ange starts typing away. Darryl looks at them, confused)

MARCUS

What are you doing? We’re shouldn’t be looking at this here.

ANGE

You guys better take a look at this….

 (Marcus and Darryl walk over to Ange)

MARCUS

That’s Zeb!

DARRYL

That’s me right after I was stabbed…Where did you guys get this photo?

 ANGE

 …and that’s Zeb holding a knife in his hand.

 The screen will go black and the credits will start rolling.

The last ten chapters of Cory Doctorow’s novel, “Little Brother” continues Marcus Yallow’s fight against the DHS to restore civil rights and liberties to the city of San Francisco. Chapter 11 opens with Marcus and Jolu hosting a party with their closest friends, where they explain what the DHS did to them, and how they’re using the XNet to fight the DHS for their rights. Marcus’ group of a few rebellious teens soon becomes a full-fledged movement against the DHS. Marcus gets many followers and with the help of his new girlfriend, Ange, becomes a celebrated leader of a rebellion against the United States government. The movement becomes so large, and Marcus attempts to run away and go “underground”. However, unable to leave his followers and the cause behind, he returns. The DHS eventually finds Marcus and takes him captive to the “Gitmo-by-the-bay” prison. In the middle of being tortured, Marcus is saved by an investigative reporter who had broken the story and revealed the corruption of the DHS. In the end, Marcus finds his friend Darryl, and all charges against him of electronic terrorism are dropped.

Overall, I thought this novel was quite an interesting read. It was entertaining, and also made me think about fragile our civil rights are. A main theme throughout the book is that terrorism can easily defeat a country if our government over utilizes security. This novel also reveals how quickly and easily the government can be corrupted in power lands in the wrong hands. However, I thought this novel also demonstrated how powerful it is for a group of people to come together and fight for their rights. While Marcus is a fictional character, I think he represents a greater group of Americans who have risked their lives for their civil rights. Marcus had to sacrifice a lot for the good of his movement, and while it may not have been Doctorow’s goal, I think it gives a realistic view of what so many Americans have sacrificed to give us the rights we so freely exercise today. This novel paints a dire picture of the US government, but instead of looking negatively on the government, I tried to focus my reading on Marcus’ efforts and bravery. I thought it was inspiring that even after Marcus had been tortured by the US government, he still states that he loves his country.

The excerpt from “Homeland,” the sequel to “Little Brother” continues the effects of Marcus’ involvement with the movement against the DHS. The first three chapters open with Marcus and his girlfriend Ange at the Burning Man festival in Nevada. Masha, the character who was working for the DHS but tried to help Marcus escape in the first book, returns and gives Marcus computer files that reveal the government’s secrets. The plot thickens when Carrie Johnstone, a DHS officer who tortured Marcus, shows up at the Burning Man festival. There is a mysterious explosion, and Marcus is convinced Johnstone is behind it. Doctorow’s sequel is interesting and would be an interesting read when it comes out in Febuary 2013.

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction writer, blogger and technology activist. Doctorow is the author of many science fiction books, including “Little Brother”.

Cory Doctorow, author of “Little Brother”. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow

Many of his books focus on technology law and policy, and reflect his views of civil liberties and social activism. Doctorow is also a contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times and Wired, as well as many other newspapers and magazines. In addition to writing, Doctorow was the Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is a foundation dedicated to freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He also co-founded a peer-to-peer software company, called OpenCola. Doctorow has a degree in computer science from the Open University in the United Kingdom. Doctorow has a great deal of experience with technology and technology law, and this is reflected in his 2008 fiction novel, “Little Brother”.

“Little Brother” is set in San Francisco, and centers around high school student, Marcus Yallow, who also goes by the Internet username, W1n5t0n. Marcus and his friends, Darryl, Jolu and Van are extremely well-versed in technology and gaming. Their favorite game, an Alternate Reality Game called Harajuku Fun Madness, requires them to go on a quest for clues all around the city. One fateful afternoon, Marcus and his friends venture into San Francisco in search of a clue, and find themselves amidst chaos after a terrorist

Source: Cory Doctorow’s website. http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

attack the bay bridge and a BART station. Marcus and his friends are detained by the Department of Homeland Security, and questioned about their Internet use. The DHS questions, tortures and threatens the friends, violating their constitutional rights. In the weeks following the terrorist attack, the DHS increases surveillance of the entire city in hopes of catching terrorists in the city, but victimizes thousands of innocent people and violates the Bill of Rights in the process. Marcus decides to fight for his rights, and he and his friends wage their own technological war on the DHS, using their technological intelligence to mess up the DHS security system.

Marcus and his friends are extremely intelligent, and use their intelligence and computer skills to fight for their rights. I think this novel reflects the types of wars we will potentially have to fight for our rights in the future. In the past, people have fought for their constitutional rights in the conventional ways of protesting and rallies. However, this novel depicts a new way that our constitutional rights can be taken away, and how we may have to defend our rights in the future. It is scary to think just how easily it would be for the government to track our every move–ultimately stripping us of our privacy– especially as our society becomes more and more reliant on technology. This has made me realize just how uninformed I am about technology and the consequences it could have on our society in the future.

The article in the International Journal of Communication titled, “The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flows During the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions,” discusses the role Twitter played in aiding the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. The authors, Gilad Lotan, Erhardt Graeff, Mike Ananny, Devin Gaffney, Ian Pearce and Danah Boyd all have experience in social networking and web ecology research. The researchers

Tunisian Revolution. Source: Jorge Martín, originally appeared in the “Defence of Marxism” homepage

drew from a group of public tweets shared during the Tunisian demonstrations on January 12-19 and the Eyptian demonstrations from January 24-29, 2011. For each dataset, the researchers described the flow of information and discuss certain patterns and types of people who transmitted the information. The Tunisian revolution successfully overthrew President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali following the sel-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, and the Twitter was a mechanism for people to communicate. Many Twitter followers started to use the hashtag #sidibouzid (Lotan 1376). “Sidi Bouzid” was Mohamed Bouazizi’s hometown. Following the success if the Tunisian uprising, Egypt soon followed suit. On January 25, 2011, activists organized a demonstration in Cairo. Activists also used Twitter as a way to communicate, utilizing the hashtag #Jan25 to mark messages of the revolution.

The researchers state that Twitter’s non-reciprocal flow of information allows people to shape how the information flows. While Twitter offers an effiecient way for the exchange of information, there are dangers associated with it as well. The researchers explain,

 

“In situations like these it is often difficult to distinguish between truthful information and rumor, or even to understand where information originates and how it changes over time.”

The researchers decided to look at the flow of information via who is spreading different facts. Their data revealed that social patterns on Twitter may highlight pre-existing relationships among people with similar interests (1397). Conversely, Twitter may have also been a place where people gathered around a shared topic. In this case, the topic was the Tunisian uprisings and Egyptian revolution. The researchers explain,

“During the Tunisian uprising, Twitter may have been a place where users honed a set of practices and established relationships that were then further developed during the Egyptian revolution.”

Many argue that the revolutions would have happened regardless of whether or not Twitter existed. While historically, many revolutions have been successful without the aid of a social networking site, I would argue that Twitter accelerated the progress of the revolutions, allowing people to communicate faster and more efficiently. Many different people, including activists, journalists or organizations played crucial roles in the flow of information and relay important information to the people involved in the revolution. Twitter also provided people who were unable to be at the actual demonstrations and protests to participate, share important information and show their support for the protestors. During the revolutions, I was studying abroad in Scotland. There, I met friends from all over Europe and Asia. I remember going on Twitter and seeing all my friends tweeting about the Egyptian revolution, showing that the entire world was watching and invested in what was going on in Egypt. All of these elements together ultimately resulted in the success of the Tunisian and Egyptian people.

Egyptian Revolution and Twitter. Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.

Andy Greenberg is a writer for Forbes, who frequently reports on technology, privacy and

Andy Greenberg. Source: Tantor Audio Audiobooks

information security. Greenberg just recently wrote the book “This Machine Kills Secrets”, which explains the history and future of information leaks. Technology has grown so rapidly in the past few decades, making it easier for hackers to release the leaked information. But in response, governments and corporations have increased network security, making it harder for hackers to obtain the information in the first place.  In his book, Greenberg aims to explain the ideas behind information leaks and the debates about privacy and civil liberties hacking and the subsequent information the leaks have sparked. In a section of the book, Greenberg discusses the shortcomings of Julian Assange’s Wikileaks and how it has inspired a new project called, OpenLeaks.

The excerpt starts with Greenberg arriving in East Germany at the Chaos Communication

Hackers at the Chaos Communication Camp. Source: How Things Work Website.

Camp (CCC), where hackers from all over the world have gathered for a conference and the launch of Wikileaks spin-off, OpenLeaks. Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who left Wikileaks in September 2010 and was Assange’s former right hand man, tried to launch his own version of information leaks in January 2011. Greenberg explains OpenLeaks as,

“OpenLeaks isn’t designed to actually make anything public. Instead, it aims to securely pass on leaked content to partnered media organizations and nonprofits, avoiding the dicey role of publisher that got WikiLeaks into so much trouble. It will focus, Domscheit- Berg says, on the most technically tricky and crucial link in the leaking chain: untraceable anonymous uploads.”

The first launch of OpenLeaks is to ensure the security of the website cannot be breached by intelligence agencies, which will be tested by the many hackers at the camp. However, the launch is ultimately a failure because the site cannot get online. This makes the hackers question Domscheit-Berg and the organization’s legitimacy. I found this excerpt extremely interesting. Greenberg does a good job of explaining the complicated technology behind a site such as OpenLeaks or Wikileaks, as giving an insight into the people behind that technology, and how and why it was developed. This reading gave me a better idea of what Wikileaks was all about. However, it seems to me that the competition between Assange and Domscheit-Berg is the driving force behind the creation of these new information leaking websites, rather than their initial goal of providing the world with information and fighting for their beliefs.

A video explaining the basic idea of OpenLeaks:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlae6aqNSIE

Jakob Nielsen, also known as, “the king of usability” has a PhD in human-computer interaction from the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen.  He has a

Source: http://blog.briandjohnson.com/context_continuity/2010/07/jakob-nielsen-t-smartest-guy-in-the-room-on-ebook-usability.html

background in software engineering and has focused largely on designing websites to increase usability for viewers.  Nielsen is the author of the article, “How Users Read on the Web,” in which he discusses the different approaches to writing on the web and what approach is most effective. Nielsen explains that when people read websites, they don’t read the webpage. Instead people scan the webpage for keywords, sub-headings or lists.  He conducted a study in which he made five different webpages with the same basic information on them. The different types of webpages included: Promotional Writing, Concise Text, Scannable Layout, Objective Language and a Combined Version. The Combined Version used a combination of concise, scannable and objective writing techniques. Nielsen had the same group of people view all five webpages and found that the usability for the Combined Version webpage was the most effective, increasing the usability 124%. This is an example of the Combined Version of text:

In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were:

• Fort Robinson State Park
• Scotts Bluff National Monument
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
• Carhenge
• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
• Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park

This form of a webpage is extremely usable because it allows a user to scan it quickly and obtain the information on the webpage easily and efficiently. Reading Nielsen’s article makes it clear just how important it is to be concise while writing on the Internet. This made me interested to find out more about what makes a webpage more usable. So, I read the article, “World’s Best Headlines: BBC News” by Jakob Nielsen. He discusses what makes a good news headline on the Internet. Nielsen states that the most important elements in a headline are: short, rich in information scent, front-loaded, understandable out of context and predictable. He explains these five elements,

• short (because people don’t read much online);
• rich in information scent, clearly summarizing the target article;
• front-loaded with the most important keywords (because users often scan only the beginning of list items);
• understandable out of context (because headlines often appear without articles, as in search engine results); and
• predictable, so users know whether they’ll like the full article before they click (because people don’t return to sites that promise more than they deliver).

He gives examples of some good headlines (all of which come from the BBC), and they are clear, concise and contain an average of five words. Conversely, the example he provided of a bad headline was long and too wordy. This article resonated with me, because I’ll never read a headline if it is too long and takes a lot of effort to read. This prompted me to surf the web to find some good and not so good examples of news headlines….

Good Headlines: From CNN.Com

1. Obama v. Romney: World is watching

2. Salon shooting leaves 4 dead

3. Hawaii: The state that doesn’t vote

All of these headlines meet the 5 criteria set out by Nielsen. These were all headlines that I was personally intrigued by because they were short and grabbed my attention. Here are some bad headlines I found from FoxNews.com…

1. Latest Intel Disclosures on Libya a Planned ‘Defense’ of Administration?

2. Florida Ripped for Plan to Set Student Goals by Race

3. Kennedy Cousin to Get Parole Hearing After Murder

These headlines, while they were information rich, seemed too wordy and detailed to grab my attention. Fox News did have some shorter headlines on the front page of their website, however these three were the top headlines meant for the reader to see first.

Overall, I felt that Nielsen’s articles on how to write a webpage was incredible informative and are things I will keep in mind when writing my own webpages.

E-mails, texts, facebook messages, tweets. This day in age, there are many avenues in which one can organize events, share your opinions and find likeminded individuals who share those opinions. In terms of political or social issues, this ability to communicate so quickly and efficiently can result in activism for a specific cause. This is

Source: http://whennoodlesdream.wordpress.com/tag/internet-activism/

known as “Internet Activism”. Internet activism has become more and more popular as the internet has become part of our daily lives. However, author *Robert Lebowitz discusses the pros and cons of using the internet to promote political activism, and to what extent the internet has actually influenced activism. In his article, “Can Internet technology still revolutionize activism?” a few aspects Lebowitz evaluates is: the effectiveness of E-mail petitions, Web-based petitions, virtual sit ins, the Internet as a tool for mobilization and virtual sit ins. He explains that e-mail petitions, while they are a good idea in theory because it would reach a wide audience, would result in duplicate names and even forgery. He also explains that an e-mail petition is the least effective form of communication with government officials. Lebowitz cites a nonprofit group called OMB Watch, who monitors activity at governmental offices, and states that e-mail petitions are the least effective in terms of influencing a governmental official. They released a statement explaining,

Most [US] Congressional offices give the most weight to personal letters, followed by [in descending order of priority] personal visits, telephone calls, faxes, personal e-mails, paper petitions, form letters, postcards and form e-mail.

Lebowitz goes on to explain that web-based petitions and virtual sit-ins (where a large group of people crash a controversial site) are effective, but are not necessarily the most meaningful. The point I found most interesting was his discussion of the Internet as a tool for mobilization. Lebowitz states that the Internet allows organizations to organize protests, meetings and demonstrations, and makes it easy to coordinate with groups across the nation. He gives an example of a group called Stand for Children who organized events all across the nation. He explains the efficiency the Internet provided,

As these activities were spread out over the entire country, it was imperative to find a way of unifying and coordinating them so as to broadcast a central message. For this purpose, the Internet was used as a tool to give those involved in each event a sense of being part of the larger whole.

This discussion of using the Internet as a tool for mobilization reminded me of the start Egypt’s revolution in 2011. An Egyptian activist organized a protest by reaching out to thousands of Egyptians through facebook. After this protest, the revolution took fulleffect, and the people were eventually able to overthrow Egyptian President Mubarak. Lebowitz states in his article that some people,

…still believe in an even more ambitious role for the internet in political activism.

But to be honest, I can’t think of a more ambitious role for the internet to play other than sparking the revolution that overthrew an unjust government.

Source: http://alanknight.wordpress.com/tag/2011-egyptian-revolution/

* I could not find any biographical information on Robert Lebowitz, which makes me a bit weary of his article, not knowing his qualifications for making these claims. However, the website, Tactical Media Files, seems legitiamte. Tactical Media Files is a documentation resource using the available media to make it more accessible for activists and scholars. TMF partners with prestigious European universities and institutions, which makes this source seem more reliable.

Henry Jenkins is the Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. He has written and edited multiple books discussing media and popular culture. Jenkins is also the principal investigator for Project New Media Literacies (NML). NML is a group focused on developing and testing educational materials, which prepare students to work with the new media landscape. Jenkins also held a position at MIT as the director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, prior to his professorship at USC. Jenkins also holds a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jenkins’ extensive background in communication and new media studies enables him to offer insight into the popular website, Youtube. Jenkins writes a blog about various new media technologies and websites. His blog post, “Nine Propositions Towards a Cultural Theory of YouTube,” discusses the place of YouTube in contemporary culture. One of his nine propositions I found to be interesting was number eight, which stated,

In the age of YouTube, social networking emerges as one of the important social skills and cultural competencies that young people need to acquire if they are going to become meaningful participants in the culture around them. We need to be concerned with the participation gap as much as we are concerned with the digital divide. The digital divide has to do with access to technology; the participation gap has to do with access to cultural experiences and the skills that people acquire through their participation within ongoing online communities and social networks.

This statement resonated with me, because I have personal experience with the “participation gap”. I don’t surf YouTube regularly, so I am usually the one in my group of friends that doesn’t know what YouTube video they are quoting or laughing about. YouTube allows people to be creative and express themselves in a variety of ways. There is a lot of intellectually stimulating and important information on YouTube, and with such a large percentage of the population involved on YouTube, if people are not participating, they are missing out on this valuable information. YouTube allows people to watch important political debates, educational videos, music and hear up-to-date news stories. YouTube also enables the average person to upload videos to express their thoughts and opinions on various issues for the public to see. YouTube opens up the floor for a public discussion on many different topics, which teaches people how to collaborate with others, engage in thoughtful reflections and debates. Because of this, I think that the participants of YouTube become a lot more open-minded and develop skills to critically evaluate issues in our society.

YouTube was a relatively new phenomenon when Jenkins published this blog post, but I think he accurately predicted what a huge impact YouTube would have on our culture. YouTube has become part of our daily lives, and has contributed to the social networking hype. Many social networking sites, such as Google+ or Facebook allow you to easily insert YouTube videos on their sites. This makes YouTube even more accessible, which I think has decreased the participation gap over time.

Ted Talks is an example of a video available on YouTube that enhances society’s understanding of various issues ranging from technology and science to social issues. Ted Talks is a series of videos that offers information that, as Jenkins states, “…young people need to acquire if they are going to become meaningful participants in the culture around them”. Ted Talks aims to spread the word about innovative and interesting new ideas. One of the Ted Talks videos features Sir Ken Robinson, who delivers the talk titled, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” This talk is the top Ted Talks video, in which he discusses how our education system is stifling creativity rather than promoting it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

“In today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy.” This strong statement comes from the introduction of Jane McGonigal’s book, “Reality Is Broken”. The main point of her introductory section is that real life is not as rewarding or as videogames, so we need games to “fix” our reality via videogames to make it more fulfilling. She claims the gaming world does a better job of motivating and satisfying our most important human needs such as finding inspiration and meaning in life and a sense of community. McGonigal uses evidence from the times of ancient Lydians, when they played games during an 18-year famine to distract themselves from their hunger. She draws a comparison between the Lydians’ use of games to mask their hunger to how today’s gamers play videogames to mask their hunger for a more engaging world. McGongigal explains,

Like the ancient Lydians, many gamers have already figured out how to use the immersive power of play to distract themselves from their hunger: a hunger for more satisfying work, for a stronger sense of community, and for a more engaging and meaningful life. Collectively, the planet is now spending more than 3 billion hours a week gaming. We are starving, and our games are feeding us.

McGonigal offers a solution to this problem by suggesting that we start designing games that will fix what is wrong with reality. I don’t completely agree with her stance on this issue of gaming, and it seems counterintuitive to me to try to fix our reality by just devoting more time into a virtual world. I think that one of the reasons why our reality is becoming unsatisfactory for so many people is due to the massive technological advancements, handicapping our ability to interact with others without the aid of technology. Our society has become so focused on technology that even children’s lives are becoming centered on it. Too many children have started to play videogames, and are forming bonds with a videogame instead of forming social bonds and learning how to interact with other people. While the child develops technological intelligence, the child looses out on other developmental skills, such as cooperative problem solving, creativity, conversational skills or empathy, things that only the real world can teach. More information on this can be found here.

McGonigal paints such a bleak picture of reality by focusing solely on the negative aspects of the real world, that she seems to completely discount the great aspects of reality. She does not discuss the beautiful and “magical” things of reality, such as love, having faith, or the beauty of the nature that surrounds us. The love you feel for a character in The Sims game does not even come close to the love human beings feel for each other. I think McGonigal must be careful in her argument that the virtual world fulfills people better than the real world, because there are elements of reality that cannot be virtualized.

Jane McGonigal recieved her PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently the Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future and Chief Creative Office at SuperBetter Labs. Click here for more information on McGonigal.

McGonigal does a TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Six years ago, a family friend of mine was sued by the music industry for $6,000 for illegally downloading music off of the University of Wisconsin’s network. Out of the 10,000 students who go to the university, she was one of 15 randomly chosen students who had been downloading music illegally. Our generation knows how to utilize the Internet to find anything, and is often more focused on finding what they want rather than focusing on any negative consequences associated with it. In his book, Remix, Lawrence Lessig addresses copyright law and how it affects our generation. Lawrence Lessig is a law professor at Harvard Univeristy, and also has an extensive background in Internet and computer activism. In his book, Lessig asserts that our generation has come to expect “perfect access” to everything on the Internet. So, when we do not have easy access to something, we don’t think twice about finding it on the Internet—even if it is illegally. As a generation, I think we have developed a sense of entitlement to the privilege of having everything and anything at our disposal. Lessig states,

The expectation of access on demand builds slowly, and it builds differently across generations. But at a certain point, perfect access (meaning the ability to get whatever you want whenever you want it) will seem obvious. And when it seems obvious, anything that resists that expectation will seem ridiculous. Ridiculous, in turn, makes many of us willing to break the rules that restrict access. Even the good become pirates in a world where the rules seem absurd.

 

I think Lessig’s analysis of our generation’s need for “perfect access” is quite accurate. It is not that our generation is trying to obtain things illegally, but if we cannot find it on itunes or something, we probably won’t hesitate to obtain it in othe ways. Lessig has a good point when he states that if people don’t want their stuff stolen, they must make it readily available for people. While piracy has been increasing over the past few years, I think sites like Pandora or Netflix, which allows you easily access music or movies for a very low cost may help decrease piracy over time. Lessig also argues that not only will more access lower the incidence of piracy, but it will allow culture to grow as well. Lessig asserts,

As the mix increases, the diversity of culture that can flourish in the digital age grows. Think of all the books in the Library of Con- gress. Now imagine the same diversity of music, video, and images. And then imagine all of it accessible, in an instant, by anyone, any- where.

 

Lessig asserts that with so many available digital files to stimulate us, the RO (Read Only) culture would lead our society’s creativity to flourish. However this statement seemed to slightly contradict what Lessig was arguing earlier in his book. He seemed adamant that the RW (Read/Write) culture was the best way for culture to flourish. While I agree with Lessig over all, I think our generation would be better with a mix of the RO and RW cultures. I agree with Lessig’s argument that increased access will benefit our society. Especially as future generations will continue to become accustomed to having everything and anything they want at their fingertips, increased access will decrease piracy while also stimulating the creative minds of our society.