Kyle Kopta DTC 206

Area 1:    The game Never Alone follows the adventure of an   Iñupiaq girl Nuna and her Arctic fox. Throughout the game, you swap control between these two characters as you solve puzzles and discover the source of a blizzard that has continued to devastate the village. In a style much different from other games, Never Alone is presented in the form of an oral tale that you play out, and the player is rewarded with documentary-style videos on the Iñupiaq culture. Area 2:    In terms of telling a cohesive and culturally relevant story in a short amount of time, I think this game really excelled. I felt a real sense of genuine human storytelling while also being professional and concise. The game is also very accessible, with it being available on virtually every platform and giving several subtitle and language options. That being said, I personally did not stop to watch every short video until I finished the game. Not because I did not find...

   The game I chose to score is Stardew Valley. For my score card, I wanted to look at a game made by a single individual rather than a large and established game developing company. However, I also wanted to evaluate a game that was fairly popular and sold well across several platforms. Because the game is very character-driven, I decided to score the game based on its representation of age, race, gender, ability, and sexual orientation and the way in which it is done. For the purposes of the score card, I'll give each section a score out 5, but I will also go into depth further on each one. Score Card Does the game represent characters of different ages?  4 While the character you create is always a young adult, the other characters in the game range from small children to the elderly. That being said, the portrayal of the older characters sometimes fall into stereotypes of grumpy old men or overly-nurturing grandmothers. Does the game include character...

Social Media Surveillance and Law Enforcement   Area 1:    In a world in which large-scale and low-cost technologies have become commonplace, the capabilities of law enforcement in intelligence gathering have skyrocketed. Approximately 80 percent of local law enforcement agencies use social media platforms as intelligence gathering tools, and the successes found in using this process have only resulted in mounting pressure for law enforcement to preemptively identify potential criminals in this way. However, the use of social media in surveillance and law enforcement has raised several legal and ethical questions: What counts as public space? Should law enforcement monitor peaceful protests? Should the use of fake profiles to gather evidence be allowed? Will this predictive policing perpetuate the disproportionate scrutiny of minority groups by police?  Area 2:    As I went through this reading, I was fascinated by the idea of "sit...

Weapons of Math Destruction  – Cathy O'Neil Area 1:    In a world that heavily values data points, it is not surprising to see that big data is used to dictate many different aspects of our lives. In this week's reading, Cathy O'Neil explores the history of credit scores and the ways in which the sentiment of these processes have translated into our digital age. While those looking for a loan in the past would have to worry about local gossip or visible characteristics (race, gender, etc.), today's consumer has to worry about a company having access to their web browsing, purchasing patterns, or location. These data points are often used to assign individuals to roles and demographics that affect their ability to bank or get hired. In addition, these systems that we rely on are not foolproof, and they can be prone to mistakes that cost individuals important opportunities.  Area 2:    In reading this week's excerpt, I was very intereste...

Enterprise Village: Intellectual Property and Rural Optimization  – Anita Say Chan Area 1:    This week's reading from Anita Say Chan tells the story of Chulucanas, a town in northern Peru, as it relates to the process of gaining IP rights for ceramics. While the supposed intent of this was to promote artisan products and protect ancestral traditions, experiences of wage-exploitation, accusations of betrayal, and general distrust was the outcome instead. Chulucanas is not an isolated anomaly either, as international governing bodies have encouraged and advocated for developing nations to take advantage of the potential an IP could give their local resources. In the case of Chulucanas and it's ceramics, the artifactual nature of their "product" was eventually lost, as these items began to become commonplace in tourist markets and souvenir shops. Area 2:    What I found most interesting as I read this article was the predatory nature behind t...

   In brainstorming ideas on how I would connect our course concepts together in a visual way, I found myself wanting to continue exploring the idea of colonialism in a digital world. In DTC 375, we also recently created a digital poster with similar parameters. Because my approach to that assignment was more text-based, I wanted to go for something more graphic and simple this time around while still communicating a comparison between purported anachronistic situations and the 21st Century.    The first course concept I am drawing from is that of digital colonialism. When we hear the word "colonialism" or "imperialism", our minds tend to only make associations to the 17th or 19th Century. However, it is important to note that colonial and, consequently, imperialist attitudes emerge in the ways that the world interacts with digital technologies today. Prime examples of these attitudes manifesting today are the One Laptop Per Child initiative and Facebook...