Johnson

And I find myself up on the fence once again. Are video games and tv bad for you? do they make you smarter? are you smarter than a 5th grader? are the internets (infamous new word that Webster should consider) making us dumber? well... back in my day we didn't have the internet and look how well I turned out! wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's start with the Internet- um information at your fingertips- greatest invention ever! The internet has allowed us to expand our horizons. We can create content or just read it, post a blog and share our opinion or just read someone else's. Internet= limitless opportunities

TV- PBS, history channel, fox. cbs, cnn, discovery = all on tv. Sure there's crap out there (yes, Jackass-you!) TV has a lot of different types of programs and it's up to the viewer to choose carefully.

I happen to be an avid reader but there are others out there that prefer tv and there's nothing wrong with that! If I pick up a trashy romance novel and someone else watches a documentary on global warming- who's going to come away with more knowledge- not me and Fabio (dude on the book cover of trashy romance)

video games- I'm not a big fan but a lot of these games allow the user to create complex content and allow for ample imagination. I think the people in who play online/interactive games are much better than those of us who played the ping pong paddles with intelevision.

SNS & Libraries

First, I want to comment on the class division Boyd discusses. I have fallen victim to this. I have Facebook and not a MySpace because I felt that Facebook was for more sophisticated people and kids used MySpace. haha wow-I fell for that!

SNS and libraries- my library has a MySpace page, not tricked out or anything, just in the hopes of attracted more tweens/teens to come to the library. Right now we are using it as a meeting place to get kids excited about a battle of the bands- at a library?! who woulda thought! certainly not when I was younger! anyway.. if this is where people are getting together why shouldn't the library join? it's not harmful and hell it's free advertising!

Ning

I took a look around Ning and it looked like a cool way to social network with people. I searched two things: Metallica and CSI. Metallica fans do not have their shit together on Ning CSI fans do though! It's fun to talk to other people who have the same interests as you. I think that this would be especially good if you liked something that no one else in your area liked (if you prefer golf to Nascar but live in Kentucky) :-) Again, as much as I like a lot of these things in class, this like the second life is probably something that I'll rarely if at all use. But it's cool to know that it's out there.

My 2nd life

Here's my second life character Annabella Svoboda- pretty smokin' ain't she? I always wanted to ride one of these things around.. just without the huge rats. I like the idea of this MMO but honestly it's not for me. But I could see how people could end up being on here for hours. I wasn't able to get to info. island, or anywhere else cool for that matter. I think that if I had more time with it I'd be able to get around a little easier. It's cool how you can create these worlds and characters without leaving home. I'm actually surprised about all of the things that you can do, especially sell/buy stuff on ebay- non-tangible MMO stuff! Wild!

If I were Steve.....

I don't think that I'd change anything about this class. I really liked how everything was conducted with the wiki and the blogs- we really learned about the future of libraries and I'm glad that I was a part of this class. However, if I were Steve I wouldn't leave RU and all of its offerings (roach coaches, a real ghetto close by the main campus, constant traffic, no parking, and the list goes on) just for some posh Ivy League. Ok, if I were you, I would dump RU and go to PU haha Princeton University = pee youuuu haha ok, now I know that you will definitely leave us :-(

Guild Wars

I know that we were asked about playing a console game but I've only played Rock Band which I love but I suck at and I still play old school 8bit Nintendo. Sorry folks, the corny music, the thrill of not being able to stop the game, save it and return later still proves to be a challenge. I can't stop and pick my weapons like some of these games today, Mario just hauled ass and hoped to run past the ninja turtles. Anyway....

My husband plays Guild Wars (an immersive game) online with his loser friends and my brother all the time! Ok, so they're not all losers but they can certainly play for extended periods of time and not even realize it. I won't lie and say that my husband actually let me play for fear that I'd get him killed but he was kind enough to le t me watch- jealous ladies? you should be :-) So he's got his headset on (and if he doesn't watch it he'll end up wearing that for a living) and he and his friends are running around this fake ass world killing stuff and idfk what else. 5 minutes later- I can't take it anymore and I leave. Nothing can beat saving the princess in world 8 and I don't care what anyone says- viva mario!

Xbox Rock Band

If I were lucky enough to be given the chance to consider buying a console (lolol-would never happen) I would choose Rock Band for Xbox. Ok, but if I didn't know that already- this is how I would go about it-

How would you research?
I would ask the kiddies! They know what they like to play. I would also get recommendations from other libraries that use gaming and see what they think of their systems. I would also test drive some systems before hand if possible- CJRLC allows members to borrow xbox Rock Band and Wii- it's so cool! Of course I would check out their respective websites, and consumer ratings as well.

What would your criteria be?
-good price
-can take a beating
-replacement parts easily available
-technical assistance provided

Which do you think you would get?
xbox with Rock Band- I think it's great how 4 kids can play together and they can play online. Plus my friends and I play on the weekends and I need some practice hahah