jakea5

[jakea5]

Final Minecraft Log

Our minecraft game is nearing completion. We have recently added and removed a few things from our game to make it better. The biggest change we made last week was removing the dragon from the game. Instead of having to kill the ender dragon to finish the game, you will now just retrieve ingredients and make a cake at the end of the game. We decided as a group that killing the dragon takes too much time to do and that it may be too difficult for some players. Because the dragon is so hard to kill, we were going to have to give enchanted weapons to the players. We would have had to supply an enchanted sword and an enchanted bow. Enchanting the weapons gives them more strength. There are many levels of enchantment and the higher the level the more effective the weapon is.

Another big thing we accomplished in our game this week was establishing a global spawn point. In the beginning we were trying many different ways to try and spawn players in the correct spot. Sometimes people would spawn in the correct spot, but most of the time players would just spawn randomly on our map. We fixed that this week when we built the machine composed of command blocks and redstone materials. Simply put, this machine searches for players with a score of zero and spawns them in the bunker when it finds that player. Our machine is working well and our spawn point works every time.

The last part of our game that needs completed is the cake making process at the end of the game. The player will have all of their ingredients and need a place to compose the cake. We were thinking of teleporting the person after they get the last ingredients. We need to creative a cool place for the person to teleport at the end of the game.

[jakea5]

Minecraft Log #2

For the most part, the development of our minecraft game is doing really well. Many aspects of our game are being tuned and perfected. At the beginning, some of our redstone devices were not allowing us to be able to play the game smoothly. But now, most of those problems are fixed and our game runs much smoother now. For example, one part of our game that needed fixed was the carts on the rail system. During the game players are forced to ride a mine cart to get to the next task. At first we just lined up carts for people to choose. But for some reason we could never perfect a way to get in a cart and not accidentally get a stray cart on the track as well. So the way we fixed that was by putting a dispenser at the beginning of track that dispenses one cart every time you step on the pressure plate. Now players will have an easy time getting a cart and riding across the map.

            Just recently we decided to try and incorporate the END into our minecraft game. The END is a realm in minecraft that holds the Ender dragon. The Ender dragon not an easy opponent and is tough to kill. This will be the last task of our game and players must pick up ender eyes in chests in order to make the ender portal. The portal requires twelve ender eyes and the only way to get to the END is by the ender portal. One big constraint that we face is time. I know from experience that the Ender dragon takes some time to kill so we will try and give the player an enchanted sword to speed up the dragon killing process. This will not make killing the dragon easy, but it will make it more likely to achieve. 

[jakea5]

Minecraft Post

Our group is really progressing well with our minecraft game. We have already got a few tasks and sequences all built and ready for testing. The testing of all of our devices and switches are going very well. Red stone is a really big part of our game and it’s important that they are set up correctly. Sometimes it’s hard to sync up devices through dispensers, red stone and the object that triggers the power. Luckily everything is working the way it should.

We decided at the beginning of this project that we would put some tricks and complicated red stone sequences into the game to make the game more appealing to the players. For example, one of the first tasks you will have to complete is a fight with multiple zombies. To get the zombies to be present in the room, you have to spawn them. To spawn them, you must place a specific zombie egg in a dispenser and then you must shoot the egg out to activate the zombie. In order to shoot the egg out you need red stone wiring and a trigger.  We decided that pressure plates would be perfect triggers for the dispensers. So we hooked up four dispensers to two pressure plates in front of and behind the doors. This way as soon as you step in the room, four zombies will start attacking you. These zombies may be a challenge to a beginning player. Two of them shoot fireballs and the other two try to hit you. Your diamond armor and your stone sword should serve you well in battle.

I believe our game will turn out very well and should play very smoothly. After a few more weeks of tuning and playing the game, I think we will have a very good finished product that many players will enjoy. 

[jakea5]

The Internet as a Sponsor

I think that the Internet is one of the greatest literary sponsors there is available. The Internet gives users a place to investigate and gain knowledge. The knowledge can be gained from watching movies, reading articles and blogs, playing games, and much more. The Internet allows us to research topics that we find interesting and it helps us advance in our studies. It is important for kids to start using computers at a young age, so that they can learn how to use the Internet in a safe and efficient way early on. In recent years, the Internet is being able to be accessed by more devices. Smart phones, tablets, and iPods are good examples of Internet compatible sources that have not always been around. The Internet provides a vast database for adults and children to expand their literacy.

              In high school, the Internet was a very important literary sponsor for me. Some of the homework involved researching on it. In college the majority of the material is presented online. I can easily say that the Internet has provided me with information I would of never knew about if I hadn’t seen it on the web. During this semester I would say I have had to use the web for the majority of my homework. The Internet has the homework assignment and it has the contents in which I need to complete it. A lot of quizzes and tests are now even posted online. The Internet is very a powerful tool. It contains many sources from different parts of the world and it connects those parts of the world together in one place. The literacy around the world has greatly increased because of the Internet and as it gets more accessible to people, the more literate our world will become. Eventually the Internet could become everyone’s most used and most important literary sponsor. 

[jakea5]

Rhetorical Analysis #2

I believe that a sporting event or any athletic event could be considered to be a rhetorical situation. Reading must be involved for there to be a rhetorical situation. The term “read” is not a very straightforward word. The definition of it is not clear-cut and the definition does differ person to person. In sports reads are going on all the time. Basketball players are reading their defender’s body position to determine if he should run or shoot and a quarterback on a football team reads the defense before the snap to make sure everyone is accounted for. Of course the “read” we normally use involves a set of 26 unique shapes that spell out the alphabet. Reading is not limited to the alphabet. Every time you approach someone you “read” him or her. By this I mean you look at their overall body composition, posture, tendencies, mannerisms, and habits that this person does to help you understand the situation better. The same can be applied to sports.

            The sport I have always played is soccer. A soccer game is a great example of a rhetorical situation. The exigence is trying to score more points than the other team and win the game. Throughout the game there are also separate situations that can be rhetorically analyzed like certain goals or plays. Constraints in a soccer match include field dimensions, field conditions, soccer balls, and the rules. The audience would be all the people in attendance like fans, coaches, parents, and players.

             A soccer player must be able to read the field in front of him and determine what his next move should be. Should he or she dribble, pass, or shoot? The constraints limit all of their decisions and make it more difficult to solve the exigence, which is scoring more goals than the opposite team. 

[jakea5]

Rhetorical Analysis #1

While doing my lit log I noticed that everything you read can be viewed as a rhetorical situation. One interesting rhetorical situation I ran into was the road signs. You may not realize it but all of us run into a rhetorical situation every time we drive. Almost every road you drive on has multiple road signs that each serve for a different reason. As you cruise by the sign “tells” you a certain thing and you react according to what it says. The sign is the rhetor because it is portraying a message to the people in the cars. The exigence is that people need to read the sign.  The audience is the people in a vehicle or anyone who can read the sign. The constraints are the font and style of the letters, size of the sign,color, and the weather because if it’s too foggy you can’t see the road sign. Being able to read a road sign telling you where to exit off a road means that you are rhetorically analyzing it.  

Some people may say that they don’t read signs if you do the same route everyday. But aren’t the signs still in your peripheral vision? I know when I drive I can see the outlines and shapes of signs even when I don’t read them. The shapes of the signs are landmarks that you recognize and “read” when you drive or walk by them. For example, lets say it’s raining so hard that you can’t read a stop sign. Even though you can’t see the letters on the sign you recognize the sign because it is a big red octagon. If someone is familiar with a particular sign on their street or in their neighborhood, then that person can pinpoint their location by just recognizing the design of the sign.  

[jakea5]

I agree with Emily. Snapchat is an awesome social media app! It is a very unique app because it takes the concept of multiple social media sites and puts it together to make a very fun app to use. Snapchat is basically real time picture sharing. Its simplicity and simple design has made it a popular activity for younger adults and teenagers all over the world. In my Lit log you will find many times where I send multiple snapchats. I love using snapchat because you are able to show your friends what is happening instead of telling them. How it works is you take a picture or a video using the app and then you can send it to as many or few people as you want. You can even control how long someone has the ability to view the picture or video. A really cool feature on the app is the ability to edit the picture with color and words. Essentially you could be texting and sending pictures at the same time with snapchat. You got to be careful though! The app gives everyone the ability to screen shot any picture that comes across the screen. This is why people should think twice before sending certain snapchats.

As Emily stated in her blog post, there can be many rhetorical situations when it comes to sending and receiving snapchats. For example, when I send a snapchat to someone there are always an exigence, constraints, and an audience. The exigence is what am I trying to show and tell the recipient in the snapchat. The constraints are the size of the photo, the time given to view the photo, and the tools I can use to edit the photo. That’s only the constraints on the sender. The constraints for the receiver of the snapchat vary a little. Finally, the audience is the person or group of people I can send the snapchat. As  Grant Davie explained, there can be multiple audiences involved with these kinds of rhetorical situations.

WILD CARD: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS FROM LIT LOG

What I did: 10:15 am Snapchatted

My response: Sending food to my boyfriend.

Rhetorical situation: The situation is writing on Snapchat. My purpose was to make my boyfriend hungry. He was my audience. My constraints were the lighting and texts space.

Snapchat is one of the greatest social medias in the world. I love to Snapchat anywhere and everywhere I go. I love to Snapchat anything and everything I do, too! For anyone who does not know what Snapchat is, it is an app for your phone, iPod, etc. where you take a picture or video of yourself, you can write a short caption on it, send it to either one person, or multiple people, and they can only view it for up to ten seconds (or shorter.) It’s a cute, fun way to connect and stay in touch with other people. I love it so much because it is so funny to send silly, obnoxious photos back and forth with friends. Plus, it’s quick and easy which is convenient for me to stay in touch with far away friends since I am often busy. Snapchat is a fun way to be flirty with people, too. It’s almost like texting people but with pictures.

So, the situation here is Snapchat. When using Snapchat, your purpose is to communicate with people in a quick, easy, fun way. Your audience, when using this app, is whoever you’re sending your picture to. Whether it’s to one person, or multiple people at once. With Snapchat though, you are able to screenshot a picture which means the person can save the picture you’ve sent them onto their phone. So, you might have a larger audience than you intended to have for a picture you’ve sent. You need to be careful with what you send. You shouldn’t Snapchat something you don’t want the world to see. Which leads us to the constraints. The timing on how long a person can view a picture is a constraint. If someone sent a really awesome picture, you can only view it for how long the person set the timer for. Unless, of course, you screenshot it. As well as the time, the text space is limited. Which I mentioned as a constraint in my lit log. You can only write up to about forty four characters. Another constraint with Snapchat is be the lighting. I also mentioned this in my lit log. I’ve noticed that my Snapchat pictures are darker than my regular camera pictures for some reason. So, if you’re in a darker room, Snapchatting may be difficult or impossible for you. I always manage to find a way to send my creepy faces to my friends though!

[jakea5]

Flash Cards

While being at Purdue University I have started to use note cards to help me study for my tests and quizzes. So far, I have made flash cards for every one of my tests or quizzes in every class. Because I am doing this, I have been getting really good test and quiz grades. In high school I never did this. One of the reasons I didn’t do it was because the quizzes and tests were somewhat easy. The other reason I didn’t make flash cards was because I was simply too lazy. I am glad I have started this good habit, because I feel like it will become extremely useful in the future when I am taking a lot harder classes.

                When I make flash cards I usually write a vocab word or a significant person /thing on one side. On the other side I put a definition or brief description of the vocab word. I try to include all of the vocab words on my flash cards. I go through the set of flash cards multiple times before tests and quizzes to make sure I know every single vocab word. It is important to go through all the flash cards until you can define each one correctly.  You never know when an instructor is going to put a vocab word on the test that they never discussed in class. A lot of the professors expect students to know words that they never even talked about in class. By using flash cards students can expect the unexpected on an exam.

                I believe that every student should use flash cards to study. I know a lot who already do, but every student should use them because they are a great way to study. We freshmen have not had to take a college final yet and I believe flash cards will help propel us through any final exam.

[jakea5]

A strategic game I used to play a lot and a game that I’m starting to play again is Minecraft. As some of my classmates are starting to find out, Minecraft is a game where your creativity is your only constraint. That is what I love about Minecraft. I have found that Minecraft is a way for me to relieve stress and become creative at the same time. Older generations will argue that all video games are detrimental to learning, but I disagree. Games that involve a lot of design and planning are good for learning and keeping your brain active. For example, Minecraft involves a lot of planning when doing certain tasks. At night, characters must be inside a safe house or structure so zombies don’t kill them. Food is required to survive in Minecraft, so one must learn how to hunt and/or grow food.  The house you live in should be in an ideal location for food, water, and other important resources in the game. In my case I had to study certain aspects of the game to become completely literate with the game. The more you study and play the game the more literate you become. Eventually you will get to the point where you will beat the game by going to the End. At the End you will meet a fierce dragon that takes a lot of time to prepare for. Hours of online research has lead me to become to what I consider a strong Minecraft player. I have beaten the game before and I still continue to play it because even I have not done everything that can be done with this game. I can’t wait to be working on our Minecraft project because I think that Minecraft is the best school project I have ever been assigned.

On one of my Thursdays I stated that I was playing a game. This game was most likely Civilization 5. This is a game where you start off in the ancient era and work your way up through the ages all the way up to the future era. This is a fun game especially for me because of the history aspect...

[jakea5]

This is the real Devoss response! For some reason it posted the same literary sponsor post twice instead of the Devoss blog, so here it is.

The Future of Literacy is an intriguing article describing the life of a few middle class people who grew during the very start of the digital age. The person who interested me the most is Danielle Devoss.  She was the older of two children in her middle class family. Ever since she was a little kid she always loved reading and writing. Her parents encouraged her from a very young to read and write.

When her family acquired a computer Danielle’s life changed. She was ten when their family got the computer. She started playing around and learning many different skills. She eventually was able to outwit anyone in her family when it came to computer skills. She started getting involved in chat rooms and computer games.  By having a computer around the house, Danielle’s literacy skyrocketed. Not only is she good at reading and writing. But as a high school kid she was able to design and create websites, giving her a great deal of web literacy. The impressive thing about Danielle is that she learned most of her skill all by herself. She would occasionally watch her brother on the computer, but the majority of the time she would teach herself how to do tasks on her own.

I think that kids these days need to be exposed to literature very early on in life. Ideally young kids should be exposed to digital and web literacy, along with books, to ensure a good variety of sponsors for the kids to choose from. You can never have too many sponsors and in my opinion digital and web literacy is the most important form of literacy in this day and age. Web literacy is here to stay for the long run and it is important to expose it to the younger population.

[jakea5]

My Dad

As I stated in my earlier blog post, my parents were and still are my most influential sponsors. But the parent who helped me the most was my dad. My dad was the one who got me reading books, solving math problems, and he helped me with a lot of homework assignments over the years. My mom helped me out with a lot of the same material just not as much as my dad. By my dad being a great literary sponsor, I have been able to succeed with my reading and writing.

            My dad has always pushed me to do well in school ever since I was a kid. He was really strict with what grades I got. He would always expect me to get “A’s” on my report cards and never tolerated “C’s.” Luckily I only got a few of them throughout grade school. I use to hate how strict my dad was. He would always have me write sentences over and over again until I got it completely correct. But now I realize that his pushing me to succeed is the reason I have done well in school.

           My dad had a rough childhood. Both of his parents died of cancer when he was a teenager and he had to raise his younger sister by himself when he was seventeen. Being able to balance college and taking care of his sister was hard on him. He got through it though. He has his PhD and is teaching animal science at Purdue, and his sister is married and working a good job in Phoenix, Arizona. I think because of his rough childhood he pushes me to get a good degree and be able to support my family when I get older. He has helped me succeed by being a great literary sponsor.   

[jakea5]

Devoss

Literary sponsors play a very important role in everyone’s life. They are the reason that we are able to read and comprehend literature. I would say that my parents have been my main literary sponsors. Ever since I was a little kid my parents always pushed me to read as much as I could. I would always love it when my mom or dad read to me. I am very grateful that my parents introduced me to literature early in my life. Because I was reading and writing so early in my life, I feel like I have a slight advantage over some kids my age.

            Being able to read and write effectively is extremely important throughout your academic and work career. If you are able to become literate at a young age, you will most likely be able to absorb information quicker than others. Literary sponsors could determine if you are a bad, average, or great reader and writer. Especially in elementary school, I noticed I was able to read and write better than a lot of my classmates. I credit that to my parents, forcing me to read novels at a young age and always checking grammar on my homework.

            I believe that literary sponsors will become even more important as time progresses. If young children aren’t exposed to good literary sponsors early, they could be left behind. I agree with Brandt, that people do not become literate on their own. This is why it is very important for teachers and parents to introduce their kids to a lot of literature at a young age. Fortunately, some literary sponsors can be found online and they can easily be accessed. I was fortunate enough to have two great sponsors in my parents. But not all kids are as lucky. 

[jakea5]

Literary Sponsors

Literary sponsors play a very important role in everyone’s life. They are the reason that we are able to read and comprehend literature. I would say that my parents have been my main literary sponsors. Ever since I was a little kid my parents always pushed me to read as much as I could. I would always love it when my mom or dad read to me. I am very grateful that my parents introduced me to literature early in my life. Because I was reading and writing so early in my life, I feel like I have a slight advantage over some kids my age.

            Being able to read and write effectively is extremely important throughout your academic and work career. If you are able to become literate at a young age, you will most likely be able to absorb information quicker than others. Literary sponsors could determine if you are a bad, average, or great reader and writer. Especially in elementary school, I noticed I was able to read and write better than a lot of my classmates. I credit that to my parents, forcing me to read novels at a young age and always checking grammar on my homework.

            I believe that literary sponsors will become even more important as time progresses. If young children aren’t exposed to good literary sponsors early, they could be left behind. I agree with Brandt, that people do not become literate on their own. This is why it is very important for teachers and parents to introduce their kids to a lot of literature at a young age. Fortunately, some literary sponsors can be found online and they can easily be accessed. I was fortunate enough to have two great sponsors in my parents. But not all kids are as lucky as me.                

[jakea5]

Born Digital Response

Born Digital is a very well written article that explains the significance of digital natives. Anyone born after the year 1980 is considered to be a digital native. This means that they have grown up during the digital age and know how most of the digital devices work. I actually like the term digital native. It does a good job of explaining what we are in two words. We are young and bright people who use computers, smart phones, tablets, and other digital devices throughout the day, to complete our tasks. We have been around this technology for so long that we are in constant contact with it.

  In the article it states that being digital natives can sometimes lead to bad habits. Palfrey and Gasser believe that some kids’ social lives are determined by digital technology and that it is not healthy to establish relationships through digital technology. I agree and disagree with this statement. I believe it is okay to meet new friends online, but you must eventually meet the person to establish a complete understanding of them. Interaction with the online community is healthy to a certain extent. The digital immigrants are used to interacting solely on hand written pieces or in-person interaction and they don’t want to change their ways for the young people.

  Even though there are a few negative things that go along with being a digital native, I believe that digital technology is advancing quickly and everyone needs to be on board with us. Technology is advancing so fast that I fear the “digital immigrants” will completely fall behind while the natives will keep advancing. Eventually we will live in a world completely ran by digital natives. This means everyone better have a deep understanding of digital technology or else they could be left behind in society.