Week 12: Web 2.0 Tag Clouds Rock

I have had so much fun playing with tag clouds on Wordle.  I did not realize that the valentine I made in a previous post was a type of tag clouds.  Tag clouds are fun ways to post information.  I made my tag clouds on library words.  This would be a fun title page for a report, or science fair project. Or a good beginning of the year activity for students to write words that describe them.  Super fun.

Week 11: Web 2.0 Podcasts and Movies

I had a lot of fun exploring this week.  For this week I surfed youtube, not a new experience but still fun.  I mainly looked for movies I could comment on for my Information Literacy Synthesis Assignment.  I found many videos on Media Violence and Children, many were spoofs on how media violence did not affect children I did find a few to comment on for my project here are the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-a9O_rCRIE&feature=related  Entitled Violence on Media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RupkNr4TbVA&feature=related  Entitled Effects of Media Violence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ui6zClK0xc  Good Interviews from every day people.

I found the Podcasts really fun.  Since I already have an iTunes account I chose that method to find podcasts.  I subscribed to Old Time Radio Westerns for my husbands.  He loves these shows.  He always listens to them when he is bailing hay all night.  (That is the only time they are on).  Now we can put them on the iPod and he can listen to them whenever he wants.  I am a good wife.

The library net looks interesting because I am not a librarian I could not figure out how to subscribe.  The tutorial really interested me.  I can not believe how much information is out their.

Information Literacy Activity 6

Okay, first the cell phone case, I think the author did a very nice job of synthesizing the articles about cell phone.  I did not agree with this person that she would just limit phone use all together.  I think that if their was a huge health concern, we would know all about it.  I think that is a little over reactive, but I am generally more easy going.  We all have to die somehow.  Maybe it will be from to much cell phone use (ha ha).

My Scenerio:  Is their a correlation between viewing violent media and violent behavior in children.

Like the cell phone case, my case had much contradictory information.  Their has been so many studies on this topic.  Most of the articles I have come across agree that their is a correlation, and violent TV viewing is not recommended for children.  However, most admit their are other factors as well, as to why a child might be aggressive.  I have learned a lot from researching these articles.  But I must say my ultimate educated decision is based on the research and some logic.  

Ultimately I think I would mention to my sibling the research I found on violence on TV.  I would not approach her by saying your kids are so violent because they watch to much violent TV.  I would simply point out that for a class I have been researching the effect of violence on TV has. I would let her know up front that I did find contradictory information. I would explain that most of the findings indicate that violent media viewing can effect children in the areas of aggression, desensitization, and fear.  Although I fully agree that you can not blame all violence on the media, I think we should recognize that it is their.  Logically, if you think about it, what good comes from children watching violent TV, or playing violent video games.  I think parents have the responsibility to censure what they watch, and educate children on how to make good viewing choices.  I might give my sister a library card, and tell her to read more books, rather then watching TV.

Information Literacy Activity 5

I was very excited to start researching the USU electronic library.  I used Ebscohost to find the following articles.  Like the cell phone example, I was able to find quality references.

Meanness Appears to Rub off on Viewers

This article was in USA today that summarizes a BYU students study to see if violence or 'meanness' would rub off after having viewed violent material.  The study was set up so that 53 college age women, participated in the study were asked to take part of a study, where they watched a violent movie or video clip then answered a questionnaire.  After they completed that activity and left the room a different researcher that was rude in nature asked if they would like to participate in a study involving reaction times.  The students who watched violent scenes were more aggressive to the rude researcher.  The findings suggest that parents should pay more attention to relational aggression when viewing television. 

Toppo, G. (n.d.). Meanness appears to rub off on viewers. USA Today, Retrieved March 19, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Is Aggression in Children with Behavioural and Emotional Difficulties Associated with Television Viewing and Video Game Playing

This was a scientific Article that looked at different research done to see if their was a correlation between Children with Behavioral and Emotional Difficulties and viewing violent Television and video game playing.  Although this scientific study did not yield any results, the fact that it did not both intrigues and frustrates me.  Because of the results being contradictory or methodology being flawed, they could not find any consistent results.

 

Mitrofan, O., Paul, M., & Spencer, N. (2009, January). Is aggression in children with behavioural and emotional difficulties associated with television viewing and video game playing? A systematic review. Child: Care, Health & Development, 35(1), 5-15. Retrieved March 19, 2009, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2008.00912.x

Media Violence:  The Effects Are Both Real and Strong

This article contradicts the previous article completely.  It states that over the past 50 years media violence has been of concern for parents, psychologists, and sociologists.  One fact that I was surprised to learn was that in 1992 (pretty dated), that prime time television had 5 to 6 acts of violence, will Saturday morning programs had 20 to 25 acts per hour.  I wonder how many their are now?  I liked how this article took into account many different types of research such as correlational research, case studies, experimental studies, over a long period of time (50 years). Murray found that in general there were three main classes of effects including; aggression, Desensitization, and fear.  The author included studies that showed which part of the brain were active while watching violent media in eight children.  This is what really got me, it showed that viewing violence appears to activate brain areas involving arrousal and attention, detection of threat, episodic memory encoding, and motor programming.  

This APA recommends that American society should teach media literacy to children, so they have the ability to evaluate media.  Encourage the entertainment industry to link violent behaviors with social consequences (fat chance).  Develop a content based rating system for video games and interactive media.  Finally to have a warning before playing violent video games, or watching violent movies that it may increase aggressive thoughts and behaviors in children and adolescents.  To conclude the author says it is up to the public the parents, educators, concerned citizens to demand action from the media industry's and government.  I was most impressed with this article, I think it was very comprehensive, and convincing.

Murray, J. (2008, April). Media Violence: The Effects Are Both Real and Strong. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(8), 1212-1230. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

 Imitating Life, Imitating Television: The Effects of Family and Television Models on Children's Moral Reasoning

This article looks at the effects of TV on moral reasoning.  This article found that violent television viewing has a negative effect on a childs ability to reason.  It indicates that children have a tough time distinguishing between fantasy and real life.

Krcmar, M., & Vieira, J. (2005, June). Imitating Life, Imitating Television: The Effects of Family

and Television Models on Children's Moral Reasoning. Communication Research, 32(3), 267-294. Retrieved March 19, 2009, doi:10.1177/0093650205275381

Information Literacy Activity 4

After looking over all of the research I realize that it is very important to find reliable resources on the web.  I think that their is so much information it is hard to sift through at times.  

The major findings I found through this first search was, yes their seems to be a correlation between violence on TV, and violent behavior displayed by children.  Children who watch violent television and video games typically engage in more violent behavior compared to those who do not.  I feel that this first preliminary search did not provide enough actual research studies.  It was mainly a summary of many research studies.

I would like to find some specific research studies.  I still do not at what age TV violence effects children the most (toddlers, children, teens).  I still do not think I have enough information to make an informed decision.  I think if I search academic databases such as Ebscohost or Academic Search Premier, I will find more reliable sources.

I did this preliminary quest for information without the use of academic databases.  I found this search to be quite frustrating.  Their is so much information, and much of what I found was either opinions from parents, or general information without good citations.  I will be glad to search more academic type of databases. 

Week 9: Zoho--web 2.0 Online Applications and Tools

Wow, I must admit I was very skeptical before I looked at Zoho.  Zoho is an online word processor similar to Microsoft Word.  At first I thought no way, I love microsoft word, nothing could possibly come close.  Although I am not ready to get rid of Microsoft yet by any means, I do think I could create a professional looking document on Zoho.  I think it is amazing all of the free sources on the web for the public.

As I looked over the web 2.0 winners I found a funny site called Hairmixer.  (It took second place in fun stuff).  Any way what you do is download a picture of you, and you can put different celebrity hair on your face.  I must admit I could not get my face just right it looks a little funny.  It is super fun to play with though.  I will post a picture, I think it is the new me.

Week 8: Web 2.0 RSS and Newsreaders

RSS, is a simple way to consume information and save your precious time.  If you are the type of person that follows different new and bargain websites this is for you.  You sign up for a free bloglines account, and find the sites you used most.  I have chosen to follow the dictionary word of the day site, and the quote of the day site.  I must confess, I usually do not follow many sites mainly because I am busy trying to follow my Information Access, and Technology classes discussion board.  Maybe they should create a blogline for that!!!

Information Literacy, Activity 3

When I first started searching out information on Violence on TV and its effect on children, I first started by searching 'violence and TV'.  I used the google search engine.  I was pretty mortified at this first search.  Six of the ten research results were pre-made essay papers you can either buy or download for free.  Most were tried and tested to get good grades.  What is this world coming to?I did find one good source from that first search from the organization, American Academy of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry.  They provided a good general overview of what the research says, however it was written in 2002, so I should probably find something a little more recent.  I found really good information from 'parentstv.org'

Most all of the information I found was from parent organizations, or psychiatric organizations.  I tried to find information from news organization and news reporters.  Sure enough I could not find much information at all.  I guess the news does not want their viewers to know the truth about how violent the shows they have are.  I did find one website that had tips for watching the news with their children.  The information sources I found did not have an agenda, with the exception of the websites trying to sell pre-made essays.  I did find information that I do consider pretty legitimate based on the organization the information is from.    

Who is funding the research?  Most of the information I found was from psychiatric and parent organizations.  Most of their research methods were looking over and compiling studies that have been made in the past from universities and organizations.  I suppose the parents organizations might have their own agenda of taking the media down, or improving the media.

The issue that emerged most important was that many, many tests have been done on this subject, and they collectively admit that TV violence does correlate with violence in children in many ways.   Such as becoming immune to violence, gradually accepting violence as a way to solve problems, and even imitating the violence they see on TV.  Because in the exercise were not supposed to search the scholarly journals I would be interested to see some more specific studies, and not a summary of them all.  I would like to know what age groups are most likely to imitate violence, and how much TV kids should watch.

My search in comparison to the cell phone search.  I do not think our search was completely similar.  We both used google to find answers to our questions.  The cell phone researcher found information that was funded by cell phone companies.  I thought I would find research funded by the TV stations say that TV was not violent.  In my searches I did not.  I am sure if I tried harder I could probably find some, but the TV producers information was not on the surface of the Web.  As in my research the cell phone researcher led to more questions.  The bloggers comment definitely added more questions such as the cell phone damage in your pockets to other parts of your body.  Also they added suggestions on where to look.  So if any of you have ideas for me, let me know!!

Sources I found most interesting:

http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_tv_violence

http://parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/stateindustryviolence/main.asp