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Mastering digital media March 16, 2007

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My Dad told me that a recent article I wrote for the TWU school paper, Mars’ Hill, went a long way in explaining why I’m pursuing the career path that I am. For those who want to know, I’ve republished the article below.

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The kingdom of Norrath has a GDP roughly equivalent to Namibia. In 2002 the average citizen made about $3.42 an hour. This is an impressive figure, considering Norrath has been in a constant state of civil war since its genesis in 1999. What makes this figure even more impressive is the fact that Norrath is a virtual kingdom, inhabited by players of the online game EverQuest.

These days, inhabitants of online worlds can earn much more. Second Life, which is more of a virtual world than a game, encourages players to buy and sell virtual goods for real money. Some citizens rake in over $50 000 a year. Of course, some are logging 70+ hours a week, as in the case of Veronica Browne of Simone! Design, a virtual fashion company. Despite the long hours, she makes over $17 an hour, well above the retail average. Even the more fantastical games like World of Warcraft, with over seven million players, have well-established economies where it is possible to make a significant income over and above the monthly cost of play.
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Nick Gisburne and YouTube: a new context for an old debate February 14, 2007

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This is a YouTube piece that excerpted from the article below. Unfortunately, I had to record it with a stone age camera, but I got the audio with my iBook speakers, so its fine. (Link)

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The debate over religion and free speech has erupted on YouTube. Nick Gisburne, an atheist on YouTube, recently published a video entitled “Islamic Teachings: Cruelty From The Qur’an.” This video was taken down by YouTube staff, at first citing its “inappropriate nature,” and both of Gisburne’s YouTube accounts were subsequently made unavailable to the public and permanently disabled. Until other users started to publish Nick’s work on their own account, it was impossible to find any of Nick’s videos, either his attacks on Christianity and Islam, or his videos speaking in defence of himself.

I have a huge interest in this debate, and believe it is an opportunity to examine the implications of “new media” for the old discussion over the tension between religious freedom and the freedom of speech. It also shows us a darker side of Web 2.0: in a world where “social networking” is the new mechanism for determining what content we do and do not see, there is the major danger of the whole enterprise devolving into “gang warfare,” as one YouTube member has so aptly put it.
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Bring it home, boys, bring it home October 25, 2006

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Conflict of interest at TWU May 9, 2006

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At Trinity Western University, the newspaper is run a bit like it was in the Soviet Union. One man is resonsible for appointing the editor of the school newspaper, Mars’ Hill. This same man is also the chief advisor to the student government, TWUSA. This same man is also the only person on the final appeals board for “accountability” (i.e. disciplinary) issues. This same man is also in charge of the most ubiquitous campus institution, Student Life.

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Video games lead to domestic shooting April 27, 2006

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Ok, so the headline is a little sensational, but apparently a dispute between a father and his 24 year old son led to the father shooting a wall three feet away from his son’s head. He had threatened to shoot the monitor after the son refused to do laundry and continued playing games (I’d bet on World of Warcraft).

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Pervasive gaming: World of Warcraft brings blog journalists April 13, 2006

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Metroblogging, one of the newest forms of blog journalism on the net, has already set its sites on the gaming world.

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