Journal 10: Visualizing with Technologies

Chapter nine stresses the idea that technologies allow us to reason and represent ideas visually without really having to produce original illustrations – yet our technological skills let us use the tools of the program to invent something unique every time. During the class activity we learned how to use movie-maker and were able to create a one minute movie about anything we wanted. While learning this new skill it was amazing how creative one can become when using the program, as during some of the class presentations there were many different examples of short movies. The most salient part of the whole exercise was the way using the technology directly connected to the information about digital documentaries in chapter nine. I found that the ideas associated with documenting real-world phenomena were clearly a pressing issue when dealing with the movie-maker functions and quirks.
Answers to the questions

5) I feel like it is very possible to learn from watching a television show – as there are so many programs on today that deal with a ‘do it yourself’ approach just from watching and imitating. For example; television shows like Bill Nye the Science Guy showed children how to conduct easy to do experiments from the comfort of their own home, the Food Network is guilty of this type of learning all the time, while many children often imitate the violence that they see on television.

7) Another type of constructivist activity could be any type of simulation video-game that takes place on the computer. For example; many of the SIMS games including Civilization, Age of Empires, and even all the other low-end computer games are all constructivist based. Furthermore, engineers often use computer prototypes to construct bridges, buildings and the like.

9) The sociologist Coolidge often spoke about his interactionist principle of the ‘Looking glass mirror’ meaning that humans look at their reflection through the eyes of their friends, peers, family and that gives them a good idea about how they appear in the real world. The idea of video feedback is precisely interesting for these reasons. We can’t ever really be that ‘fly on the wall’ in the room – taking in constant observations, so we use digital recording in order to capture what we can’t always see. Thus, seeing ourselves on television is so capturing because we get to see the ‘real us’.