Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please feel free to email my Ebay account or leave me a comment here and ill get back to you.

Thanks,

Simon

Eventually the videos will be available to view in due course on our website which is currently being built. There are a few sligh problems with video each of these individuals. So far, we wanted to get their personalities through but then we decided this made the videos too eratic and quite difficult to split up into appropriate categories.

The videos will aim to outline the different themes and technologies we are investigating on the Integrate project. For examples we want the academics to talk about Internationalisation, Large Student Cohorts, Assessment and Feedback etc. whcih is then linked in with different technologies i.e. VLE, Echo360, Wikis.

Follow the link and register to get me some points. I’ll help you too if you want

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war between the USA and China that devastated the game’s world in an alternate post-World War II timeline. The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect a small number of humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player’s father disappears under mysterious circumstances, he is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down. Along the way the player is assisted by a number of human survivors and must battle myriad enemies that now inhabit the area now known as the “Capital Wasteland”. The game has an attribute and combat system typical of an action strategy game but also incorporates elements of first-person shooter and survival horror games.

Following its release, Fallout 3 has received very positive responses from critics who praised in particular the game’s open-ended gameplay and flexible character-levelling system. The NPD Group estimated that Fallout 3 sold over 610,000 units during its initial month of release in October 2008, outselling Bethesda Softworks’ previous game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which sold nearly 500,000 units in its first month.

Cast:
* Liam Neeson as James (Dad)
* Malcolm McDowell as President John Henry Eden
* Peter Gil as Augustus Autumn
* Ron Perlman as Narrator
* Odette Yustman as Amata Almodovar
* Duncan Hood as Alphonse Almodovar (a.k.a. Vault 101 Overseer)
* Wes Johnson as Mr. Burke / Fawkes / Uncle Leo / Protectrons / Sentry Bots / Scribe Bigsley in Broken Steel
* Erik Dellums as Three Dog
* Heather Marie Marsden as Sarah Lyons
* William Bassett as Owyn Lyons
* Shari Elliker as Beatrice / Reilly / Star Paladin Cross
* Craig Sechler as Butch DeLoria / A3-21 (a.k.a. “Harkness”) / Talon Company Mercenaries
* Mike Rosson as Colin Moriarty
* Dee Bradley Baker as Stanislaus Braun (real voice)
* Corrieanne Stein as Betty (Braun’s fake voice)
* Stephen Russell as Sergeant RL-3 and all Mr. Gutsy and Mr. Handy robots, and Harold the Tree
* James Lewis as Mr. Brotch / Eulogy Jones / Jericho / Ishmael Ashur

The G.E.C.K.

The G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) is the official editor for Fallout 3 available only for the Windows version of the game, and was released in December 2008 as a free download on Bethesda Softworks’ Fallout 3 website.[56]

Downloadable Content

Operation: Anchorage

Operation: Anchorage is the first Fallout 3 downloadable content pack, and takes place as a virtual reality “military simulation” in the main game where the player character is stripped of their equipment and is forced to use the replacements provided. The content focuses on a pivotal event in the Fallout timeline before the Great War took place, namely the attempt by the United States Army to liberate Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. The pack contains several new quests, new items, and adds four new achievements. Operation: Anchorage was released in North America and Europe on January 27, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live.

Although the content was scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3 in June 2009, the final week of June’s PlayStation Store updates did not include Operation Anchorage. Bethesda released information suggesting that the DLC is taking so long to come out for the PS3 due to the fact that they wanted to iron out all of the bugs before release as well as test compatibility between DLCs. Bethesda has stated that the first batch of DLC for the PS3 will be out before the end of September.

The Pitt

The Pitt is the second downloadable content pack, and allows the player to journey to the industrial raider town known as The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The pack features several new weapons such as the auto axe, new armour and clothing items, four achievements and around four to five hours of gameplay.

The Pitt was released on March 24, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live, but was quickly removed due to glitches in the gameplay which made the Xbox 360 version of the expansion unplayable. Further investigation was performed by Bethesda and Microsoft, and according to a Bethesda’s official Twitter, as of 10:00am PST on March 25 2009, the expansion was again being uploaded to Xbox Live, and was again made available that afternoon. For those who downloaded it on March 24 in the morning, glitches were still apparent. A new version was available on Xbox Live on April 2, fixing freezing issues many players had encountered with the previous content of The Pitt.

A retail disk was released at the end of May, 2009 containing this and the Operation: Anchorage expansion packs. It was released for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows. The expansion packs are copied to the hard drive and function as it would had it been downloaded.

This pack is to be released for the PlayStation 3 shortly after Operation Anchorage, “probably at the same time” to “get them out to [players] as soon as [they] can”

Broken Steel

Broken Steel is the third downloadable content pack, and continues the story of Fallout 3 by altering the ending of the game. If the player personally activated Project Purity, the player’s subsequent death is retconned and they instead fall into a coma. Two weeks later, the player joins the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and helps rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave once and for all. The pack also raises the game’s level cap from 20 to 30. It includes 3 main quests and 3 side-quests. Three Dog has new dialogue in this expansion, but no new songs are added. The new weapons in Broken Steel, including the Tesla Cannon, are some of the most powerful weapons in Fallout 3.

Broken Steel was released on May 5, 2009 on Xbox Live and Games for Windows – Live (GFWL). It was quickly removed from GFWL due to bugs which made the PC version of the expansion unplayable. Bethesda has stated that the problem lay with GFWL and that Microsoft was fixing the issue. Broken Steel was re-released on May 7 on Games For Windows live. Some Xbox 360 users have reported a bug that prevents them from activating Project Purity, resulting in the plot elements added by the DLC being inaccessible. PC users report that changes caused by Broken Steel and the 1.5 patch adversely affect mods to the game.

This pack is to be the first released for the PS3 version of the game due to it being the most requested out of all available DLC. This is primarily due to the continuation of the story past the game’s original ending.

Point Lookout

Point Lookout is the fourth downloadable content pack, and takes place in Point Lookout State Park in Maryland. Unlike other areas in Fallout, no bombs were dropped on Point Lookout. Humanity has left it behind and it is now described as a large swamp wasteland. This pack has new enemies called swampfolk, who are inbred hillbillies that openly attack with weapons such as axes, shovels and double barreled shotguns. Other enemies include the Tribals cult. If you choose to help a ghoul named Desmond, you get to battle seemingly endless waves of cult members. Developers state that unlike the previous content packs, Point Lookout will have a fully explorable wasteland. Point Lookout was released on June 23, 2009 for the Xbox and PC and will be released for the PlayStation 3 after the original three packs have been released.

Mothership Zeta

Mothership Zeta is the fifth and final downloadable content pack, and follows the main character after being abducted by aliens when going to explore a mysterious radio transmission from the Alien Crash Site. It takes place entirely on an alien spacecraft and is a similar size to Operation Anchorage. It was released on August 3, 2009 for the Xbox and PC versions and will be released for the PlayStation 3 after the first four packs have been released (presumably 4–6 weeks after the release of Point Lookout).

Sensitivity to Japan

Bethesda Softworks changed the side quest “The Power of the Atom” in the Japanese version of Fallout 3 to relieve concerns about depictions of atomic detonation in inhabited areas. In non-Japanese versions, players are given the option of either defusing, ignoring, or detonating the dormant atomic bomb in the town of Megaton. In the Japanese version, the character Mr. Burke has been taken out of this side quest, making it impossible to detonate the bomb.

Also in the Japanese release, the “Fat Man” nuclear catapult weapon was renamed “Nuka Launcher,” as the original name was a reference to the bomb used on Nagasaki.

Release in India

On October 23, 2008, Microsoft announced that the game would not be released in India on the Xbox 360 platform. Religious and cultural sentiments were cited as the reason. Microsoft stated, “Microsoft constantly endeavors to bring the best games to Indian consumers in sync with their international release. However, in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country.” Although the specific reason was not revealed in public, most people guessed it was because the game contains two-headed mutated cows called Brahmin (which may have been an intentional misspelling of brahman), which is also a class of religious scholars in India, as well as the fact that the cow is revered by Hindus.

Adopting a new technology can be a difficult task. Without stereotyping many ‘older’ academics may already have a successful way of doing things so implementing technology into a situation which doesnt necessarily benefit anyone isnt really the point… if it’s not broke don’t fix it etc etc
However, integrating technology into an educational environment is a strange new addition for many people. Whether set in your ways or not there are a huge range of technologies which can greatly boost your education. It just takes practice and willpower to change your learning pattern. The Education Enhancement staff are producing in-depth research with information which greatly boosts the idea that different technolgies can be used for different purposes.

There are many assumptions which have to be considered when applying a technology to a specific cohort of people. For example, if you were to introduce Wiki technology you would assume that students would have at least basic skills in writing, editing, adding attachments, uploading images online. The challenge of this is to ensure that the learning process is short for the students and academics. Another big factor, especially within the Business School at Exeter University, is the wide range of cultural diversity. Students come from quite literally every corner of the globe, 40 different nationalities in one year group! So one could imagine the different levels of language involved, as English isnt the main language.

Simon

The definition of a Sensor:
Any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner. – wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

The sensors of OSLife act as a passive description of time based on the space around them.

Pachube allows users access to a standard map that visualises a rough area where a sensor(s) is receiving data. OSLife creates a juxtaposition. Second Life is set out in many ways the same as the real world, apart from SLurl’s is no way to visualise locative sensor data.

Using:
Second Life
Pachube
Arch-OS

Data Feeds:
IN – http://www.pachube.com/feeds/1136
OUT – http://www.pachube.com/feeds/6991

The Process:
Data IN
Data from Arch-OS feeds into (.xml) Pachube which is read in (LSL) Second Life

Data OUT
Data around the box from Second Life (LSL) is sent to (.csv) Pachube

Personal touch:
I want the user to be aware that they are contributing to a project when they click on my box so I’ve added a message to let them know. This calls on their user name too which makes it a bit more personal. Here is the line of code which calls the information:

llWhisper(0,”You are contributing to a project called OSLife. Thanks “+soughtName);

History:
The project was originally going to include data from the Xbee sensors that I helped to build back in January but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a away to parse the data into Pachube. This meant that it couldn’t be displayed in Second Life. However this does add for further research, given more time fingers crossed I’ll find a way. I had all the Processing.org files to run and get the data spewing out from the Xbee. That data is available here:

feed://x2.i-dat.org/archos/ecoidRSS.php?source=23859

I’d try and separate the string of data, so that it’s not one continuous blue line of numbers. It works for the project and forces users to check out the feeds on Pachube to understand further what they all mean.

Photos:

OSLife room and box. Click the image to view larger.

The Xbee module with sensors attached. Click the image to view larger.

Ecoids: are sensor devices (small pods) that can be distributed through an environment (work place, domestic, urban or rural). The sensors allow environmental data to be collected from the immediate vicinity. The sensors can be connected together through the formation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WNS) that enable the coverage of an extensive territory (several kilometres). Each ecoid has a unique id and its location within a network can be triangulated giving its exact location. Consequently locative content can be tailored to a specific geographical area.

Ecoids consist of programmable (Processing, Java, etc) embedded technologies (Arduino, etc) and network technologies (Zigbee/Xbee, GPRS and Bluetooth). Designed to be attached to objects (architecture, trees, rocks, etc), free form (water-based, balloons, free standing) or as mobile sensors. They can be powered or draw power from the environment (solar).

Ecoids can also be used to produce content be receiving instructions from Eco-OS. Distributed performance can then be orchestrated across a large territory through light displays or acoustic renditions. – http://www.i-dat.org

I found this video and thought of the series of lectures that we had for the 4D module. This would have been great to create as a project but looks like someone has beaten me to it. Awesome video though!

Characteristics of Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners learn best by moving their bodies, activating their large or small muscles as they learn. These are the “hands-on learners” or the “doers” who actually concentrate better and learn more easily when movement is involved. The following characteristics are often associated with kinesthetic learners.

1. Kinesthetic learners often wiggle, tap their feet, or move their legs when they sit.

2. Kinesthetic learners were often labeled “hyperactive” as children.

3. Because they learn through movement, kinesthetic learners often do well as performers: athletes, actors, or dancers.

4. Kinesthetic learners work well with their hands. They may be good at repairing work, sculpting, art, or working with various tools.

5. Kinesthetic learners are often well coordinated and have a strong sense of timing and body movement.

‘The lack of access to information and communications technologies by segments of the community. The digital divide is a generic term used to describe this lack of access due to linguistic, economic, educational, social and geographic reasons.’ – http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/

Feenberg first states that the internet is not a fully developed technology and that it was only ARPANET that would fund the project in the start as it was lavish and speculative. The outcome was not guaranteed and no-one could predict what the technology would bring. Ironically, this issue of being unfunded and no-one would invest is exactly what the people affected by the Digital Divide have to deal with. The government struggle to invest money into the lower classes as the output that they get from them is low.

In the paper, there are a few issues which Feenberg describes, in his conclusion he lists a few example of areas which the internet has played a vital role. When considering the digital divide in medical terms you can clearly see the benefit, especially for those seeking medical advice but can afford the fees. This is not usually the case in the UK but if there is a problem one can Google a query and find at least a good estimation if not the answer they were looking for. Sites like Wikipedia provide a vast amount of information which can be read by anyone, there are no registration fees or limits to the amount of information available. This in turn provides a cheaper alternative for those seeking advice. Social communities have been set up. From experience migraine sufferers have their own space where they talk about remedies and what works for them as well as other options which they might not have heard of before.

Music sharing has had an incredible rise since the start of the decade. Feenberg writes that “between an $18 album with one good song and a free or 99 cent download of that same song, there is no competition.” In my opinion this is very true, everyone has bought an album before where only half if not less is worth listening to. Some term these poorer tracks as filler tracks, just to make up for the rest of the album. iTunes is at the top of this unsteady market, it tackles the money issue as well as provide users with a cheaper alternative. Some listeners enjoy the thought of physically holding and album where as others are just interested in listening to it. Ultimately it comes down to buying something. With the music market spanning thousands of different artists it would be almost impossible to buy every album that you liked, some people just cannot justify it. Now with the availability of the sites like Rapidshare and of course Napster which really kicked off this shift in the music industry, it has been at the top of the record labels agenda to combat music piracy.

The list that Feenberg has listed is all about money or the lack of in some cases. The digital divide was first used by the U.S. administration and U.S. journalists to describe the social gap between those involved with technology, particularly between children and their schools. Speaking of a mobile computer lab in a truck, Al Gore said, “It’s rolling into communities, connecting schools in our poorest neighborhoods and paving over the digital divide.” In the paper it is clear that people were very skeptical in using the internet for any sort of education. With the internet being so vast no-one could predict how deep it would integrate into everyone’s lives. School computer access was always going to be an issue. Rich schools were much more likely to provide their students with internet access so ultimately even though the internet is a free resource but the equipment needed to have the internet was not. There are a few projects which try to tackle the global digital divide where poverty is refine in poor underdeveloped countries. However, One laptop per child and 50×15 rely heavily on open source software. The projects were developed to bridge the gap in the digital divide and also a term called the knowledge divide. The Knowledge Divide is where a lack of technology causes the lack of useful information and knowledge.

David Noble wrote:
“Visions of democratization and popular empowerment via the net are dangerous delusions; whatever the gains, they are overwhelmingly overshadowed and more than nullified by the losses. As the computer screens brighten with promise for the few, the light at the end of the tunnel grows dimmer for the many.” (Noble, consulted Nov. 11, 2006: 12).
I think Noble was making the point that where there are profits there will equally be losses, and in most cases where someone gains someone else losses out. Feenberg also points out that:
“some argue that the digital divide excludes the poor from participation while enhancing the well to-do people. others complain that the internet people are able to segregate themselves and other argue that the internet is so thoroughly colonized by business that it is little more that an electronic mall. without face-to-face contact, it is said, people cannot take each other seriously enough to form a community.”

1: Title
The Philosophy of Time

2: Project Summary:
The Philosophy of Time Travel is a fascinating fictional accompaniment to the film Donnie Darko. It is entirely fictional but underpins terminology and ideas which people think time travel constraints to.

The idea of space and time travel is fascinating. There is a scene in Donnie Darko where a trail (Liquid Worms) of the subjects’ future protrudes from their body in front of them. The protrusion is the subjects’ future and in this case it’s the main character Donnie who finds out where he is going to go. He can potentially see his path and where he will be going. So his choices are already predefined even though he is blissfully unaware and obtains what he thinks is free will. Heroes season 3 also had this style of trail (Watery Ooze), where Daphne was so fast that she left this trail behind her indicating that this in some way is her past as technically her physical body was ahead of herself.

“Donnie becomes able to see time lines in front of his family–semi-transparent liquid arrows that seem to lead them into the future. He becomes fascinated by the theory of worm holes, and discovers that a key book, The Philosophy of Time Travel, was written by a neighbor, Roberta Sparrow” – http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011026/REVIEWS/110260302/1023

Upon reading about the philosophy of time travel I came across a project of the same title. The project was hyped up by this… ‘The past and future flow through a monumental collaborative installation at The Studio Museum in Harlem’

I was also watching The Mothman Prophecy and there is a scene where there is a Psycologist explaining what these visions are and he paints a picture to the main character, Richard Gere, that if there is a car crash a few blocks down the road which you cant see, but if someone is up high they can see further down the road. In other words just because you cant see it doesnt mean its not happening or there.

Its a great idea to blend together with Space and Time.

Theoretical Research:
I came across some theorys’ related to space and time. Metaphysics is a fascinating subject to study and one could get lost for hours thinking about different possibilities and outcomes. Common-sense tells us that objects persist across time, that there is some sense in which you are the same person you were yesterday, in which the oak is the same as the acorn, in which you perhaps even can step into the same river twice. Philosophers have developed two rival theories for how this happens, called “endurantism” and “perdurantism”. Broadly speaking, endurantists hold that a whole object exists at each moment of its history, and the same object exists at each moment. Perdurantists believe that objects are four-dimensional entities made up of a series of temporal parts like the frames of a movie.

Perdurantism or perdurance theory is a philosophical theory of persistence and identity. The perdurantist view is often defined as being the claim that objects have distinct temporal parts as opposed to endurantism (endurantism is the view that an individual is wholly present at every moment of its existence). The use of “endure” and “perdure” to distinguish two ways in which an object can be thought to persist can be traced to David Kellogg Lewis (1986). However, contemporary debate has demonstrated the difficulties in defining perdurantism (and also endurantism).
For instance, the work of Ted Sider (2001) has suggested that even enduring objects can have temporal parts, and it is more accurate to define perdurantism as being the claim that objects have a temporal part at every instant that they exist. Zimmerman (1996) has said that this won’t work, as there have been many self-professed perdurantists who believe that time is ‘gunky’ and that for every interval of time, there is a sub-interval. Consequently there are no instants,[dubious – discuss] and Sider’s definition must be altered to admit of this fact. Currently there is no universally acknowledged definition of perdurantism (see also McKinnon (2002) and Merricks (1999)).

John McTaggart acknowledged that events seem to be ordered in time and that time’s passage can be understood in terms of events moving from the future to the present to the past. He then set out to demonstrate the unreality of time by discussing two conceptions of time:

1. A:One where events find their ordering in time in virtue of instantiating different temporal properties at different times and,
2. B:One where events bear an unchanging (static) temporal relation to all other events (e.g. if event M is earlier than event N at any time, it will always be earlier than N.)

McTaggart set out to demonstrate that time is an illusion by first showing that (B) alone (without A) will not guarantee the passage of time. He then shows how (A) (and its combination with (2)) lead to contradiction. Any attempt to avoid this contradiction leads to an infinite regress. He concluded that time was not a real part of our physical world.

The A-, B-, and C-series

John McTaggart proposed that time could be described by three series, the A-series, the B-series, and the C-series. The A-series corresponds to conception (1) above, while the B-series corresponds to (2). He defined these as follows:

The A-series: “..the series of positions running from the far past through the near past to the present, and then from the present to the near future and the far future..” McTaggart further declared that “the distinctions of past, present and future are essential to time and that, if the distinctions are never true of reality, then no reality is in time.” He considered the A series to be ‘temporal’, a true time series because it embodies these distinctions and embodies change.

The B-series: “The series of positions which runs from earlier to later..” The B series is temporal in that it embodies direction of change. However, McTaggart argues that the B series on its own does not embody change.

The C-series: “..this other series — let us call it the C series — is not temporal, for it involves no change, but only an order. Events have an order. They are, let us say, in the order M, N, O, P. And they are therefore not in the order M, O, N, P, or O, N, M, P, or in any other possible order. But that they have this order no more implies that there is any change than the order of the letters of the alphabet…” According to McTaggart the C-series is not temporal because it is fixed forever.

Just as a quick NOTE:
Water and metal are two key components in Donnie Darko. Water is the key to allow travel between the Primary and Tangent (worm holes or Time Portals, or the tunnels created of liquid in the movie). Metal is the substance of the item that created the time rip to begin. These are known as “Artifacts” (the jet engine). Donnie can see the tunnels of water coming out of people’s bodies throughout the movie, predicting what they are going to do next. While typing this up I also thought that in the movie Constantine, the main character uses Water as a gateway to hell. There are many groups in real life that believe in these portals

3: Development:
I will be looking for inspiration from movies, papers and books. My initial thoughts were to create an installation but I want to explore as much of the subject as possible. I will explore and innovate the field of digital time-based audio/visual media with consideration of:

• the historical conventions of film and television production

• experimental innovative approaches to these forms by artists/producers over the century

• the opportunities offered by new media forms, synchronous/asynchronous media, multi-location, telematics, etc.

4: Plan of Work:
Gather research while the lectures are going on. Once the workshops start, I will start to think about the outcome.

5: Output:
Seminars will be to explore concepts behind 4D/timebased work, historical perspectives, and design strategies. I shall be using the seminars as a good reference points which will enable me to further think about my output from these references. I will be taking my own view of the project, I dont want to re-invent the wheel but I need to keep it realistic with the time I have to complete the project.

6: Criteria:
My research shall be as concise as possible. Only when I am comfortable with my research I shall procede further with my final outcome. I will be in contact with my peers and the module leader to ask for assistance to ensure i’m keeping on the right track of ticking all the boxes for the module criteria.

7: References:
I have a few references already:
McTaggart, John Ellis, 1908, “The Unreality of Time,” Mind: A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy 17: 456-73.
Donnie Darko – Movie
The Philosophy of Time Travel (Fake Publication)
The Mothman Prophecies – Movie
The Butterfly Effect – Movie
Memento – Movie
Heroes: Season 3 – Series
The Studio Museum in Harlem – 144 West 125th Street, New York, New York.

8: Visual Material:

Skinny Oscar-winner Adrien Brody will break type to play an alien-fighting action hero in Predators. The latest installment of the sci-fi franchise, which is being executive-produced by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), casts Brody as a mercenary hired to fight creepy monsters.

Variety reports that Brody soon begins shooting Predators in Hawaii and at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. 20th Century Fox plans to release the flick on July 9, 2010.

Given that Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the original 1987 Predator, this gig marks a major re-invention for Brody, who picked up an Academy Award for The Pianist and starred in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Nimród Antal (Kontroll) directs.

Sweet

Can this be said by all aspect of Art?

In the recent advert with Derren Brown, he is moving forward (as in time) with some objects and some are in reverse. This would be great to manipulate space in a more practical or clever way.

Degradation:

“Those photos always get damp, though, even when they’re in plastic. They rot or they fade, like thoughts and memories – and people in the ground.” – Ian Rankin, A Cool Head

Technology now is not letting this happen, photos aren’t fading they are only been erased. Memories are being stored on hard drives and thoughts are kept on a blog. The degradation process has changed.