Witches and Vampires: Changes of Perception in Literature

One of the many questions DHers ask is how culture has changed over time. Culture can be seen in art such as paintings, music, and literature. Literature is a fascinating topic when it comes to culture because direct words can be used and the authors thoughts are put right on the page. As technology has increased, new ways of tracking those changes have come to be. The tool used in this essay to explore this topic is Ngram, it tracks the frequency of words over a period of time. The following essay dives into the history of witches and vampires throughout literature and culture and how the perspectives of them have changed over time.

Devan Orr's Essay

New Jobs for Millennials

Numerous social media platforms have created a new wave of work for millennials. Social Media Influencers have become wildly popular within the marketing and advertising world. Check out my final research paper about Social Media Influencers Here. 

The Fall of Rapture

Below is a link to the Final Research Paper on The Fall of Rapture and the city's inability to maintain itself as the New York City of the sea due to rising conflict in leadership.

The Fall of Rapture - Doc

Sean McCarney

Essay Exhibit Blog

During class, we were asked to examine to other of our peer's final essay exhibit pieces and write a blog post on them. The two peer's projects I chose were Cory Gear's and Kendall Mahony's. Cory's was regarding to video games and how it is becoming a well-paying profession and Kendall's was about the use of emoticons in daily life. I chose these two exhibits because I found both very relatable.

To start, Cory's piece discussed the emergence of E Gaming and how it is becoming a well-known profession and how it is breaking across popular television networks across the world. Furthermore, I found it super fascinating how well some professional video gamers are being paid. Cory's presentation made it clear that there are numerous gamers who are making millions of dollars every year from their participation in these popular gaming competitions that are broadcasted across the globe. Finally, I also chose to review Cory's because a few days before I was actually flipping through the channels and came across a drone racing competition which is very similar to the way they host the gaming competitions as well.

Moving on, Kendall's exhibit was on how we use emoji's or emotions in daily conversation via social media outlets as well as texting and other messaging services. Whether it be texting my friends or scrolling through social media, I encounter emoji's hundreds of times a day which made her presentation extremely relatable. Kendall talked about how emoji's can have numerous different meanings, and how they can mean different things to different people. Not to mention, while discussing the exhibit we also moved forward into the deeper discussion of Bit Mojis. Bit Mojis are emojis that are tailored to look exactly like the user they are representing.

Overall, both exhibits were extremely interesting and I was able to relate to each one in a different way.

Essay Exhbit Blog

     During our class time, we got the chance to walk around and listen to what our classmates were going to write their papers about. In this blog post, I will share some information about two of them. Kendall wrote about emojis and how they have changed the way we communicate Justin wrote about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.

     Kendall’s main discussion is about how emojis are used in everyday language. Emojis are little pictures that are used to communicate. Some people used them to replace words in a typed out text. However, people do not necessarily interpret them in the same way. Depending on the people, one picture of a flower could mean spring, happiness, or simply just be a flower. There are endless meaning to emojis because each person thinks differently. I think that this topic is fascinating because emojis have become part of language that I do not think people will ever live without.

Justin wrote about AI and VR. He dove into the subject starting with Artificial Intelligence. One part that really caught my attention was when he talked about the Turing Test. This test is when a computer and a person are in a separate room from the other person and answer questions. The point of this experiment is to see if the evaluator can or cannot tell a difference between the person and the computer. The other part of this exhibit that I found interesting was the idea that AI and VR combined could train, help, and teach people. It can train police officers, pilots, and firefighters through VR by putting them in real life situations. It can help people by exposing them t their fears and helping them get through those obstacles or help people with disabilities. VR and AI can also help people in schools learn through programs on the computer or similar technology.

 

Devan Orr

Exhibit Thoughts

The first exhibit in class that caught my eye was one focused on artificial intelligence (A.I.) and its uses and benefits.  Artificial Intelligence includes anything from computer learning and virtual reality (VR) to self-driving vehicles and Google's own self-learning & adapting algorithms.

A few examples of A.I. in this exhibit included self-driving vehicles, personal assistants, and VR. Self-driving vehicles are changing the automotive industry in a way never before seen or experienced before in that people, for the first time, may get place to place in a vehicle without needing to function the vehicle themselves.  Thanks to improvements in cameras, sensors, and computer technology, self-driving cars are expected to drastically improve vehicle safety and possibly prevent any accidents from occurring at all.

Seen Below: Self-Driving Volvo (Uber Prototype)

Personal assistants such as Google Now, Cortana, Alexa, and Siri are aimed to simplify and improve device users' lives through predictive text, reminders, voice commands, helpful information, and news that may be important to the user.  Making their way into vehicles, the A.I.-based voice assistants are constantly learning, improving, and correcting themselves so as to provide the very best and most helpful responses and information as possible.

Seen Below: Bixby, Samsung's new personal assistant

Lastly covered in this exhibit was the topic of VR and its many benefits and implementations. Firstly, VR machines such as HTC Vive provide learning experiences for professionals that improve on their own skills (i,e. a doctor using VR to practice a surgery before the actual, real life procedure). Another example of VR's usefulness lies with its ability to help disabled folks retrain themselves or aid in bettering their lives.  An example of this may include a paraplegic learning to walk again through the use of VR.

Seen Below: HTC Vive

These examples of artificial intelligence are, in many cases, life saving. As these technologies continue to evolve and help more people and businesses, we may (will) eventually see the first entirely self-aware A.I., capable of making decisions and judgments on its own while living and learning from and with humans in our world.



The second interesting exhibit included the discussion of eSports and its importance to the gaming industry.  Examined were possible ideas and explanations as to why eSports, gamers playing video games competitively for money and a title, was and is taking off so fast as well as where it may go in the future.

Seen Below: Official Rocket League Championship Series (eSports) logo

According to this exhibit, there are three main factors in considering eSports' importance and appeal. First, it allows players and viewers to escape from the every day pressures of life and transports them into vast, beautiful, and often competitive environments of which teamwork and communication are paramount to success in the industry.  Secondly, curiosity is enough to have many people intrigued - "Why are they playing video games for money?", "What are they playing?", "What has everyone's attention?", "Who will win?.  Finally, the simple novelty is enough to intrigue people.  Seeing gamers play video games for money and a title is the equivalent to seeing professional athletes compete for their own title.  Many people grew up playing video games, whether Pac-Man or Red Dead Redemption.  The love for gaming remains, though perhaps is dulled over time due to life happenings, work, and events.

Seen Below: eSports attendance filling out entire arena

ESports is a profound, if not unexpected, form of activity and entertainment that has spawned over the years as an important and significant pillar of the gaming industry.

Sean McCarney

Stephen King Archive: w/a Twist

For this group blog post, we were presented with the task of having to decide a topic of which we would create an archive for and then have to pitch it to Justus through a blog post. Brainstorming within our group, we came up with the idea to create a Stephen King Archive. "But isn't there already like a 100 of those?" Yes, but ours will have a twist opposed to a traditional archive of all King's literary and cinema works.

For our King archive, we thought it would make sense to produce an archive specifically dedicated to keeping a collection of his UNPUBLISHED works. A collection of his works, that by his standards, maybe just weren't good, but would still be an absolute thrill to watch and read for us. Our archive would contain everything from film scripts and novels, as long as they weren't mainstream like most of King's work.

Furthermore, the whole reason behind archiving these pieces is because they are actually in danger of disappearing, whereas all the mainstream works of King will certainly be within our reach and possession for decades to come. Furthermore, while it may not seem like so, King has numerous works of published that one can read about sporadically across the internet. While this is great, it is not easy because they are all in different places. Our archive's goal would be to bring them all into one central location for people to enjoy for years to come.

Moving forward, some examples of unpublished works by Stephen King include pieces like The Aftermath, The Cannibals, Squad D, and many more. To conclude, our archive would be a place where Stephen King's unpublished works can congregate from the past, and for years to come.

Technological Convergence

Technological Convergence is, in its most basic sense, the coming together and fusion of various technologies.  Convergence itself is the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole.  Combined with the term "technological", this creates the idea in which various technologies may be combined to create a simpler, more robust piece of hardware and software.

One example of Technological Convergence may be found in the modern smartphone. Through the combination of camera, display, speaker(s), silicone hardware and software, a single, cohesive item is created of which is great at performing multiple tasks (i.e. taking pictures, calling, watching videos, etc.).  

Seen Below:

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus

Another example of Technological Convergence may be found in the form of a modern gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony (i.e. Xbox One S, Xbox Project Scorpio, PS4, PS4 Pro) and Nintendo to a much lesser extent with the Switch.  The former examples combine hardware features such as an SoC (System on Chip), motherboard, and controllers as well as software capabilities to which an individual may game, check email, and speak verbally to the system and have it recognize language (Cortana on Xbox One) all on a single system.  

Seen Below:

Microsoft's Project Scorpio logo

Seen Below:

Microsoft's Project Scorpio SoC

Seen Below:

Sony PS4 Pro

Something else to consider is the Black Box model in which a single, "black" box is able to perform all necessary tasks within itself (i.e. no need to other hardware or software - all is performed by a single box).  Two important factors to consider that prevent this single box from existing are as follows...

1) A single box this capable would cannibalize a company's own products as they would no longer be necessary if this single box can perform everything well by itself.  

2) A monopoly could be formed in which a single company or product rises the point of no customer purchasing and no consumer utilizing another product(s).

Technological Convergence exists today in many facets of the technology industry (from TVs to smartphones and even refrigerators with TVs in their doors).  As long as technology continues to grow, progress, and expand into new markets, one may safely assume that Technological Convergence, too, will grow alongside the hardware and software enhancements themselves.

Sean McCarney

Devan Orr

Jack Shirk

Voyant and Ngram

The picture above shows the total words used in our data mining extravaganza. Throughout our blog thus far, we used 4,013 words. The most frequent words were share, Moore, piece, Plimpton, and faith. Using Voyant, we discovered these pieces of data. The picture below shows how frequently those words are used in proportion to others. The larger words are used the most often.

The picture directly below shows where the most common words were used. The left is the most recent, the right is the beginning of our blogs life. It makes sense that Moore and Plimpton (green and purple respectively) were used mostly in the beginning because that was our first blog post. Share was used throughout our blog. This may be because we are talking about technology in this course and today "sharing" information over the internet is very popular.

To the right the diagram shows the connection that words have with each other. The green words are keywords and the red words are other frequently used words. The thicker the line, the more frequently those words appear near to each other. For example, "share" and "Facebook" are linked with a think line because they are both used in the same context in our blog. "Pittsburgh" and "Plimpton" have a thin line because they were used together but not as frequently as "share" and "Facebook." 

Finally, the picture was generated by using Ngram. Ngram looks through information to find when that word was the most popular. It is interesting to see that over the past 40 years that "share" has become more popular. As mentioned above, with technology increasing and social media growing, sharing online has become part of many people's everyday lives. "Piece" has decreased. This could be because piece could refer to a piece of music or a piece of art. Today, the word piece is not used as frequently. "Song" or "work" may be used to describe art or music. Moore was just a name so that is why it is consistently low throughout the years.

Data mining can lead to many different conclusions. It highlights what words are used which shapes out culture. Language is culture. The more that we can identify how we communicate, the better we can be at communicating.

Devan Orr

Sean McCarney

Jack Shirk

What will be in our Future?

Thinking about the future in terms of technology is a very ambiguous task. One man, Ray Kurzweil, has taken on this task and has made some pretty accurate predictions. He believes that technology is growing and its intelligence rapidly, which will continue to grow exponentially. One thought is that computers will have more intelligence than all humans combined. Their technology advances will be able to cure all sicknesses from humans, increasing their life dramatically. Kurzweil believes that death is just a disease that can be cured. One thought contradicting his thoughts of computers reaching Singularity, the term given to when a computers are more powerful and more intelligent than humans, is who will program the computers? A human has to be there to give instructions to computers. The most important contradiction is, if computers are the most powerful, where would they get their energy from? There has to be a human there to keep the machine powered by some source. That being said, can life really be lived in a totally virtual environment? We know that our life is real, but if we put ourself in a totally artificial world, what would power that world? Would it be known that the “virtual, artificial world” is all just a program we would place ourselves in? These questions may be answered in the next hundred years. Until then, the future is just a reality we continue to make predictions about.

Horror Locations

In this interactive and explorable Google Map, we view and learn about the famous locations filmed, based, and inspired by and in popular horror films.  In some instances, the films are shot in and based in real life locations while others are simply fictional locations represented in the films themselves. Additionally, fun horror facts are included so to further educate, inform, and interest the user.

Horror Locations (Interactive Google Map)

Sean McCarney

College Volleyball Recruitment Journey

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1xX9jwaTKd7rZ6LSrQKANm-W23I8&ll=45.180120164195515%2C-89.23058681875&z=6

This is my story of how I came from Illinois to Pennsylvania and the steps I took to get to UPJ. I am thankful for this journey because it made me the person I am today. 

-Devan Orr

Traveling Bucket List | Jack Shirk

Here is my traveling bucket list. It is a list Ive compiled over the last few years of destinations I want to explore desperately.

jack shirk

Yes games count?

For the fifth blog post, we were asked to decipher the question, "Do games count or hold the same legitimacy as other works that fall within the scope of Digital Humanities such as e-poetry, e-lit, hypertext fiction, etc?".


As a group, we collectively came to the decision of yes, they count, and are no less significant than any other form mentioned above and sometimes even more meaningful. We chose this because certain games can be used to immerse the user in a completely interactive experience that from there can be leveraged to do a multitude of different things. For example, it could be a game like "Assassin's Creed" which takes the user through an interactive story of game play that depicts the rivalry between two medieval groups known as the Assassins and the Templars both struggling for peace and power. These types of games can be powerful story telling methods, just as hyper text fiction and other types of E-Lit, as it can suck users in for hours on hour due to the technology that is being used in the gaming industry making games seem more and more like reality for users.

Furthermore, games can also be used for unconventional causes that are super powerful in their own right. In our opinion, the best example of this is the game that took the nation by storm in early July of 2016. Pokemon Go was a fully interactive game that completely shook up the way DHer's and game designers can use games to influence their users. Pokemon Go is unique because it used the user's smartphone, a tool that has become a necessity for almost all of society, into an avenue to get the users outside an active. Pokemon Go's platform users GPS and a map in the app to have users hunt, search for, and capture virtually generated Pokemon at real geographic places near the user's locations. This is just another prime example of how games can be used as a super-powerful form of Digital Humanities.

Uncreative Writing

Don’t say that if you don't mean it

Beyonce

You don’t say that if you don’t mean it

You're the thing that makes me so happy

Beyoncé

Bond to happen

This is bound to happen one day

This is magic right here

Do you feel it too?

Do you feel it too

Do you feel it

I feel it

You look very handsome

It was so much fun

Punched her in the face

The kick

The grunt

There was a grunt I heard

I do

I do

I do

I just wanna laugh

You make me happy

Ya, afterwards

I felt this was as close to going to prom with you

Man woman connection

You look gorgeous

Might as well dress up

Oh my gosh it was so much fun

Kind of my favorite

Kick in the head there was a grunt

You’ve done it again

Big action thing

She gave me my first driving lesson

Gave me my first driving lessons

Liam Neeson

It’s another great one

She said drive me home

I don’t

I don’t

Drive me home

Drove me home

One day you’ll be the biggest action star

One day you will be the biggest action star

Ok

Have you ever been in any accidents

In the year 2000 i was in a bad crash and i hit a deer

Motor bike crash hit a deer

It was scary

26 miles per hour

26 miles per hour

Harley Davidson 26mph

Did you bruise the deer

Did you bruise the deer

I did everything wrong

I hit the deer

I hit a deer

It was scary

It was

The deer’s front paws were on the handlebars

Part of ET

So it’s like the thing from E.T.?

The scene from ET

Did you bruise the deer at all

Did you swerve or anything

I grew up across the street from the opera

They sing in the shower

They sing in the shower

Sing in the shower

Grew up across from the opera and ballet

So I grew up across the street from the opera and ballet and I dreamed of being a star

Family Musical

She knew i was going to sneak out

Your mom took you to clubs

She knew i would sneak out

Smart parenting

There was no stopping me

No stopping me

Your mom took you to clubs

She knew that I was going to sneak out so she decided that she would chaperone

She knew i would sneak out

Smart parenting

Smart move

Lady Gaga

Smart move

A very bad one

She’s been very supportive

My mom was supportive

I feel very grateful that I get to be here

I was doing this a long time and had a lot of rejection

When i got fired at nbc my mom brought me to cbs

When i got fired my mom brought me to CBS

You did other things

What kind of a waitress where you

I use to flirt with everybody so I could get tips

I flirted with everyone

It didn't work if they were on a date

Didn’t work when they were on a date

I used to flirt with everybody

Why are you looking at my man like that

That’s when the soup goes in the lap

I knew you'd make it i knew you'd make it

Answer me one simple question

It’s a simple formula it’s a simple formula

Simple formula

The formula is first of all

You know

You know it’s it’s easy

It's easy

Yeah that what i thought

Shut up

I better shut up

I don’t know it

I don't know

Watch it buddy

Weird Al

That’s what I thought

sh*t last year

You have no idea what you’re talking about

Hmm, well, I’ve been asking all the questions here

Any questions for me

When was the last time you were deloused

Was your macrame class that knight

How many times can you rhyme

Missing a heart

Lighting a fart

Postmodern Art

Blue light special each day at K-mart

Jealous much

Yeah

Why weren’t you at the Academy Awards to pick up your Oscar?

Were you afraid that a sock puppet was gonna kick you butt?

Were you afraid of a sock puppet

You did show up at the mtv awards

Sock puppet kick your butt

Is your rap war still going on

Still going on

He thinks he is a really excellent wrapper for him to poop on

You’re a really excellent rapper for him to poop on

Your a really excellent rapper for him to poop on

Is the creation of text from four YouTube videos literature? Does it even make sense? Most would say that our tribe's piece of uncreative writing is just nonsense with no meaning to it. However, to make this "poem," we each just typed what we heard from our professors computer. He played four different interviews of celebrities the class got to pick. We started with Beyoncé, then it went to Liam Neeson, to Lady Gaga and Weird Al interviewing Eminem for the big finish. Each member typed what they heard.. We all do not type at the speed of light, so it would be impossible to type every word we heard. This shows what sentences or words from those interviews stuck with us. This is possibly an example of how much information our brain can pick up, process, and relay that information out. As humans, we pick up so many stimuli we do not even realize or acknowledge. That was shown in our piece of uncreative literature.

Sean McCarney
Jack Shirk
Devan Orr