Affinity Space – Disc Golf (Hayden Thompson)

I decided to do a project on a subject which is all-too-familiar to me in choosing disc golf as my space. I didn’t anticipate that I would gain a “seeing” of myself as a participant in this space to the extent that I have, but I’ve come to understand that I participate in many of my spaces in the exact same way(rarely a geek, but almost always more than casual). I enjoyed articulating my membership in this space, as well as spoofing on it a little bit. Disc golf somewhat diverges from the traditional definition of the affinity space, mostly due to its social aspects, but otherwise, what I think I have is a pretty durned good example.

Blog Post # 10 – Digital Teacher Identity (Hayden Thompson)

Probably the best place to start would be a look at that lovely mugshot of mine… Inasmuch as I have few qualms about addressing issues in my private life, this won’t be one of those “nasty surprises.” The day we did this activity, I actually located the picture online, downloaded it, and the re-uploaded it to Facebook. In addition to a couple of handfuls of likes, one of my friends actually responded to the post by posting his own mugshot on the comment thread. Interesting. If the intent of Facebook is to move all of us closer to the ideal of transparency, I would say this was a step in the right direction.

Okay, dude, get to the point…

Obviously, being arrested for a DUI is not a great thing to have on one’s track record, and the lack of educational/intellectual media out there with my name attached to it will have to be addressed eventually. It is likely time that I start thinking of my various digital footprints as a scattered resume (resu-may) which anyone can pull up. I return to a look at Facebook. My privacy settings are pretty air-tight: while my mugshot is not on my page, there are people who still cannot see it unless they Google it. Not so brave as we thought, eh? Come to think of it, they could probably find this article and learn that I got arrested back in ’11 that way. So now that’s two articles out there pointing fingers of judgment at my character.

Time, then, to adopt the strategy of outnumbering the bad stuff with the good. For instance, there’s actually a blog up in my name where I can begin posting stuff pertaining to my work, which I would be wise to make use of… if I can remember the login info.

It’s not quite enough to ask who among us is guilty of nothing as a point of rhetoric if one has as few articles of proof of good deeds done as I do. On top of that, my disposition is not necessarily towards documenting my good works, as the documentation is not the end. I have to find a way to be okay with saying “look at what good things I have done” without feeling self-aggrandizing. This will take practice…

Blog Post #9 – Reading Trajectories (Hayden Thompson)

On a given day, I read at least 10 different articles in online format, which functions as the better part of my entertainment reading. I feel like online news sources eclipsed hard-copy newspaper publications in terms of my readership at least 10 years ago. Furthermore, they’re a lot easier on our trees. Anyway, I read online articles in about the same non-linear way I used to read newspapers, but there is an added element to web articles that was absent completely from newspapers: a comment section on nearly every article. I read these like so: I read the first paragraph of a report-style (narrative-style net articles get read in linear fashion in case you wondered) article, and if I’ve decided that I understood what it is about, I zip down to the comment section and see what people are saying about the topic.

Part of why I take this path is that there’s no one telling me I can’t, and the other part is the idea that writers of internet articles, due to physical detachment, suffer from a (some say undeserved) lack of perceived credibility. If I disagree with the article, I peruse comments for like opinions and satisfy myself that I am not alone. If I agree, I browse for comments that disagree, and satisfy myself that I am in line with the “spirit of the age” or whatever, and this poor SOB is not. Kudos for me!

Popular opinion is how I judge a number of things about an article, such as whether the views expressed therein are widely held or not, or if someone had something funny/ignorant/funny-because-it’s-ignorant to say about it. I don’t look at all web articles this way, however. If an article deals with a topic that is political, I have less than zero interest in what other people typically say because, for every insight into the political process I find, there are 50 “ObAmA SuCkS!!1” comments which bury it from educated eyes. Political stuff gets read in linear fashion because it is typically deeper than “You’ll Never Guess What This Lady Found in Her Burger!”

For a literature class, if I have an everyday reading assignment, I’ll read the whole work in linear fashion. This most likely falls in line with the intended trajectory of academic reading, as it follows a singular path. However, if I am reading for a research paper, I definitely try to spend as little time between the covers as necessary, especially if I need more than one source, which is always the case. Perhaps this is not what my professors intend, but they surely do not desire my work to be weeks late because I exhaustively read all of my sources. In such a way, I am the essential pragmatic student, haha. For education classes, I will do linear diligence to most articles I’m asked to read and go start-to-finish – unless I can find the main idea quickly.

Transmedia Franchise – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Hayden)

When I was asked to give an example of a transmedia franchise, one jumped into my mind more quickly than any other: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It is difficult to imagine a world without these green rapscallions because they were so very present in my life, starting with the cartoon series which began airing the year I was born(1986). The story, which everyone knows who watches or has watched the turtles, is as follows. A bunch of turtles in the sewer stumble upon some radoiactive goo, which magically turns them into these:

These guys fight ne’er-do-wells across the city(ostensibly New York) under the guidance of their sensei, Splinter, who also encountered the goo. Needless to say, if you were a little boy or girl, you went nuts about these guys. They ate pizza, said “dude” and “gnarly” practically all the time, and furthermore, you could buy them. Well, not them, per se, but these:

Yeah, I had all of ’em. Also, around 1990, they released a movie, the first in a trilogy of turtle-mania. If you watched the show, and you had the toys, you definitely went and saw the movie, which gave us this musical gem along with hours of live-action ninja frassle:

As their popularity faded in the late 90’s, many attempts at re-imagining the turtles followed. I believe Nickelodeon owns the rights to TMNT now, and, last I checked, this is what they were up to:

Everything got more extreme, and muscly, too. I hear there’s a new movie in the works, now, as well. Also, there’s a comic series. In short, there is no media which TMNT has not made a shell-print on, not even clothing: my TMNT undies are my favorite. I’m a good example of the “nostalgia crowd” which will always love me some turtles, and likely as not, if I have kids, they’ll be getting a heaping helping of these guys too…

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Remix Example – Hayden Thompson

An example of remix (at once a  mashup and a parody) that is interesting because of the ways in which it is remix. If I may go down the list of 4 chief determining factors from the UM article…

First, the purpose and character of this work are of a commercial nature, which typically works against fair-use, but this is where it begins to be tricky. Jane Austen isn’t alive anymore to dispute any of this, and I wonder how well she would have received news of such a work in her living days. I believe, though, that the commercial nature of this particular work is a huge factor in introducing a broader audience to the work of Jane Austen in recreational and even educational contexts(although I’d probably have it on my downtime bookshelf in a classroom), which happens to be another major factor in determining fair use.

The volume of borrowed content is another important factor in deciding fair-use, so it’s wise that P&P&Z  credits Jane Austen as a co-author as it makes heavy use(necessarily) of substantial parts from Pride and Prejudice. Lastly, the intent of this work is creative, and not to use Jane Austen’s hard work to take money out of her pocketbook. While it may not be appealing to Austenian purists, it is an exceptionally creative re-imagining of a work with a previously more limited popular appeal.

 

I asked my friend Bob to snap a photo of one of my throws on my new Google phone, and what he caught right here was a “pump-fake.” I didn’t actually throw the disc, and I think this is why I appear to have two right legs, arms, and two shadows. So it’s really “Caught Mid-Fake.”

Original Assignment Page on DS106

 

 

DS 106 Assignment B (Hayden Thompson)

I’ve always loved dinosaurs, yet, oddly enough, I never included myself among them in my hundreds of sketches of them as a child. The point of this, however, was not to draw a picture of a dinosaur. I decided my portrait needed one, however, and you can tell I took no small care in trying to accurately depict one as a pack-animal. Notice the intrepid expression on my face and the computer-thing on the Velociraptor’s head. That’s so he doesn’t turn on me. Raptors are way sketchy like that.

DS 106 Assignment A (Hayden Thompson)

It took some time to find the perfect childhood photo to bomb, but I found one. Pictured are myself and my Aunt Beverly, apparently singing or something. My picture was from when I bombed my cousin’s “look what I got for Christmas” picture. It goes without saying that I’m kind of a pro at this.