Author: Rachel Weisz

The Use of Video Games to Train Professional Athletes

BCM215, Uncategorized

In my beta video, I reiterated the possibility of using video games as a form of training for professional athletes. Like my pitch, I aim to research the positive benefits of using moment-based and non-movement based video games to determine if this is true. I want to explore if users gain certain mental and physical skills that are beneficial for their training.

My blogs will be split into two sections:

  1. Movement-based video games – which can include virtual reality and motion-sensory games

and

  1. Non-movement based video games – such as NBA, Madden and MVP Basketball to name a few popular ones.

I also intend to focus on two influential factors of sport-based video games:

  1. Spatiality

and

  1. Modality

which I discuss briefly in my Beta.

In my first blog, I explained that movement-based video games have enlightened the possibility of genuine research between gaming and health, which will perhaps break the “couch potato” stereotype that gamers are reputable for. I used the example of Wii Bowling, which is part of the collection of Wii Sports. I explain that these games, which also include tennis, baseball, golf and boxing, were designed to “demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote”

I also explored the growing VR technology as a form of training athletes. It’s benefits, I have discovered include the minimisation of possible risk injuries and “wear-and-tear” that occurs when you’re on the field. I also did some research on a company called STRIVR Labs. This company uses VR to prepare professionals and college athletes for competition.

My next blog post will focus on non-movement based video games and the mental skills that can be developed and trained. Hope this is of interest to you!

Using movement-based video games to train professional athletes – is this the future?

BCM215, Uncategorized

Movement-based video games have enlightened the possibility of genuine research between gaming and health, which will perhaps break the “couch potato” stereotype that gamers are reputable for. Sport-related video games, such as Madden NFL, NBS and MVP Basketball, to name a few, are increasingly popular in the community. Virtual Reality (VR) has additionally become more accessible, and with proper research conducted by STRIVR, we can determine the future possibility of using gaming as a form of professional training.

Playing video games is habitually perceived as an activity with little to no beneficial outcomes. Like watching television and using the computer, it is considered a sedentary hobby that has frequently been associated with boosting obesity. Movement-based video games enable their users to employ active body movements as a mode of interaction (Pasch, M. et al, 2009). Movement-based video games can range from motion-sensing games like Wii Sports to Virtual Reality such as Everybody’s Gold VR and Echo Arena. In order to consider movement-based video games as a form of professional training, they need to mimic certain movements that allow for skill improvement, including natural control, physical challenge, mimicry of movements and proprioceptive feedback.

Not only could movement-based games be additional support for off-the-field training in the professional world, but this would also conclude that playing video games could become part of the solution against obesity by requiring their users to be physically active and move away from the couch potato stereotype.

Before I explore the potential in training the professionals, I want to see how movement-based video games can affect individuals who may need to focus more on their health daily. One game that I certainly have enjoyed in the past that allows users to stand and move around is Wii bowling. Wii bowling is one of 5 games that are part of a collection known as Wii Sports. These games, which also include tennis, baseball, golf and boxing, were designed to “demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote” (Fandom, 2009). The objective is the hit the virtual pins at the end of the lane using the controller device as if it was an actual bowling ball. Differences in real-life bowling and the virtual game would be the weight of the ball versus the controller device. It is not the most straining activity, however, you are required to get out of your chair and move around to enjoy the full purpose of the game.

A study was conducted by Lucas A. Willoughby, a former graduate from the University of West Florida, and by directing 44 elderly individuals to play Wii Bowling, he found that the game increased the heart rate of the participants by approximately 40 per cent. He exclaimed that “the older adults felt more enthusiastic and rejuvenated” and were “in better psychological shape than when they started.” Elizabeth DiRico, who works for a WellPoint health benefits company fitness centre and was also part of the study noted that the boxing game provided more of an exercise boost, equivalent to a light jog (Medicine Net, 2009).

The Professional’s

We have concluded that even simple movement-based video games can have a positive impact on the health of individuals in an everyday setting. So what can these games do to positively affect professional athletes in their training? Virtual Reality games that simulate real-life sports are becoming increasingly popular. Using VR as a form of training is positive as it minimises the possibility of risk injuries and “wear-and-tear” that occurs when you’re on the field. A former kicker on Stanford’s football team Derek Belch started investigating and experimenting with VR and sports. He became the founder of STRIVR Labs, which is a company that uses VR to prepare professionals and college athletes for competition.

An example of STRIVR’s work with preparing athletes for the real deal is their work with U.S. Ski and Snowboard. Through VR they can recreate the course that athletes are preparing to compete on, allowing for significant preparation for their upcoming race. They call this process “mental access”, as it allows the competitors to mentally prepare for their race, such as “the positions of the gates, the terrain, the way the turns appear—all this mental prep and visualization is crucial to this sport at the highest level” (STRIVR, 2018).

Us Ski

Going For Glory: STRIVR and U.S. Ski & Snowboard

STRIVR additionally helped famous basketball player Ian Mahinmi, who’s played centre in the NBA and won the championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. STRIVR’s research concluded that after playing constant virtual reps for three weeks, Mahinmi’s free throw percentage increased from 59.7% to 73%. Virtual Reality gave Mahinmi a chance to practice without putting strain on his body, with the “repetitiveness in the life-like immersive setting” allowing him to “internalize the motions, and get the feel of being on the court” (Willage, J, 2018).

Movement-based video games come with a lot of benefits that allow individual gamers so move their bodies, which can ultimately enhance skills through repetitive movements and cardiovascular efficiency. Research is still being made to determine if these games are a less-riskier and effective option for professional athletes. However, with companies such as STIVR, we know that VR and other movement-based games do have positive implications on skills.

References:

Fandom. 2009. Wii Sports. [ONLINE] Available at: https://wiisports.fandom.com/wiki/Wii_Sports. [Accessed 11 September 2019].

Medicine Net. 2009. Interactive Video Games Offer Exercise Benefits. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=100998. [Accessed 11 September 2019].

Pasch, M. et al, 2009. Movement-based Sports Video Games: Investigating Motivation and Gaming Experience. Entertainment Computing, [Online]. 1/2, 49-61. Available at: https://people.lu.usi.ch/paschm/pdf/2009_jec.pdf [Accessed 18 September 2019].

STRIVR. 2018. Going For Glory: STRIVR and U.S. Ski & Snowboard. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.strivr.com/strivr-skiing/. [Accessed 18 September 2019].

Willage, J., 2018. Using VR to improve free throw percentage in the NBA. STRIVR, [Online]. 1, 1-4. Available at: https://www.strivr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mahinmi-FTs.pdf [Accessed 18 September 2019].

Bridges made of pebbles: social media and the transformation of journalism

BCM206, Uncategorized

We will discuss the implications of the long tail, data aggregation, and citizen journalism for traditional news media outlets, and concentrate on issues of editing, filtering, access and political engagement.

“As the industrial age makes way for the information age, and as its hierarchical and centralised structures for the organisation of production, distribution, and market economies transform towards a networked, heterarchical environment characterised by many-to-many information flows, the conventional models of media production, distribution, and consumption are no longer relevant” (Bruns, A. 2009).

With easy accessibility to research in our globally networked society, Citizen journalism has become more widespread which can ultimately create issues of editing, filtering, access and political engagement. Citizen journalism involves individuals who generate their own news content. Ultimately, they are creating user-generated content, which could risk the necessity of professional journalism as these ‘citizens’ do the job for them. 

What risks does this create in an environment where information is easily accessible, easily digestible and easily misunderstood?

Remediation:

I wanted this weeks remediation to pose a question; if we are digesting information that we find online and then digitally posting about it, can this be considered journalism?

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References:

ThoughtCo.. 2019. Understanding Citizen Journalism. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-citizen-journalism-2073663. [Accessed 13 September 2019].

Bruns, A., 2009. New Directions for e-Journalism. News Blogs and Citizen Journalism. 1, 2/20. Available at: https://moodle.uowplatform.edu.au/pluginfile.php/1761686/mod_resource/content/1/Bruns%2C%20A.%20-%20News%20Blogs%20and%20Citizen%20Journalism.pdf [Accessed 13 September 2019].

iFeudals: big data, surveillance, permission control

BCM206, Uncategorized

iFeudalism is a term that explores the passing of information that is ultimately bundled up and used for other means, which is a big example of control in the networked world.

An example of this would be websites such as Youtube and Facebook that collect your information, analyse and use it to preselect content that they think you may enjoy. This is clearly seen on our feeds where content that is similar to what we have “liked” or “viewed” previously has popped up.

This could be seen as a process that creates “meta-data” which allows the owners of these platforms to make more of a profit flow, as the consumers are ultimately being shown content that could possibly be relevant to them.

Could this be seen as a disruption of privacy? Ultimately as consumers we did click “agree” to the terms and conditions, so is it wrong to consider this process a disruption of privacy? Let me know in the comments!

Remediation:

I wanted to create my remediation this week with a big of a joke behind it. We are all scared of losing our privacy, but can this be considered self-sabotage seeing as we are the ones who agreed to the terms and conditions?

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The Attention Economy and the Long Tail Effect

BCM206, Uncategorized

Let’s break down this week’s topic with some definitions;

What does the Attention Economy refer to?

Attention economics explores the approach that human attention can be seen as a scarce commodity that needs to be applied to profit the modern economy. Matthew Crawford from the NY Times referred to attention as “a resource – a person only has so much of it.” (New York Times, 2015).

What is the Long Tail Effect?

The long tail effect theory was composed by Chris Anderson and suggests that the Internet drives demand away from hit products with mass appeal, and directs that demand to more obscure niche offerings (Wharton, 2009).

To compare to the networked life we live today and the rise of large media companies, the long tail provides the opportunity for media to be expended on a large scale – larger than our old media outlets e.g. Netflix in comparison to old video stores.

Here is a really well-explained video regarding the long-tail theory where she compares the online shopping network Amazon to regular shopping markets;

My Remediation:

My remediation this week refers to the large amounts of advertisements companies use to gain audiences attention – however, because we are being marketed so much information at one time – sometimes it can come across as just noise. Check it out:

Resources:

The New York Times. 2015. The Cost of Paying Attention. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/opinion/sunday/the-cost-of-paying-attention.html. [Accessed 3 September 2019].

Wharton. 2009. Rethinking the Long Tail Theory: How to Define ‘Hits’ and ‘Niches’. Available at: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/rethinking-the-long-tail-theory-how-to-define-hits-and-niches/. [Accessed 3 September 2019].

 

The Networked Home

BCM241, Uncategorized

This week I spent my time analysing and understanding the innovative “networked” home that I live in. Like mostly all suburban families, we live under an integrated network full of multiple easily accessible devices that all connect to the internet.

two-router-network-56a1ad583df78cf7726cfa35.png

Bradley Mitchell, (2019)

I remember only 12 or so years ago we had one tv, one DVD and VCR player and one old computer that sat in its own room. One thing that has changed dramatically since then is our current state of home entertainment systems and how our need for multiple devices has increased dramatically. Even with newer and multi-functioning models of TVs and DVD/CD players, consumers feel the need to buy more for every room of the house. This includes TV’s for every room, laptop computers for each individual and most recently a “Google Home” or “Alexa” that you can buy to connect to every device.

Media in our family has always been a constant in our home. Something is always on, whether that be the radio, the television or music from our desktop laptop. We are in a constant state of connection, yet, we hardly speak to each other.

A pattern that I have discovered in my networked home is the last of communication in a home full of constant communication. My sister only talks through short Snapchat videos, whereas my dad will text us from downstairs to notify us that dinner is ready. We are all connected online through “the cloud” that we share, and all our devices are connected to the “Google Home” that can be found throughout each room of our house.

Cloud-Migration-2016.jpg

Caserta, (2016)

We could describe my household as a representation of the impact of “The Internet of Things,” which is a term to describe the “ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction” (Wikipedia. 2019).

Companies are now single-handedly using the IoT as an advantage to connect households with multiple devices from the same brand.

Chet Pipkin, the CEO and founder of Belkin has a very positive outlook on the future of connecting technologies in the house, stating “The world is made up of trillions of things — cars, planes, jet engines, exercise equipment, the items on my desk. And then there’s the Internet. This category is about all of these things and the Internet, as we know it, coming together. Anything I can do over the Internet blended with my things” (Forbes, 2014).

Belkin was introduced in the 1980s as a consumer electronics brand and has now become a pioneer in the IoT space, something that Chet Pipkin has worked for.

Some of their devices include;

WeMo – an automated and Wifi controlled system that connected your cooling and heating system, your lights and other automated control systems

And

Echo – created by Belkin to monitor water consumption levels allowing you to monitor, measure and manage basic necessities in life.

As technology becomes more and more integrated into our networked home, we find that everything can be connected, making home-life just a little bit more easy to control. Is that such a bad thing?

References:

Wikipedia. 2019. Internet of Things. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things. [Accessed 1 September 2019].

Forbes. 2014. Everything Is Connected: What ‘The Internet Of Things’ Means Now. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorikozlowski/2014/04/23/everything-is-connected-what-the-internet-of-things-means-now/#372912f725a1. [Accessed 1 September 2019].

Photographs:

Bradley Mitchell, (2019), Common layout for hybrid home. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/home-network-diagrams-4064053 [Accessed 1 September 2019].

Caserta, (2016), The Cloud. Available at: https://caserta.com/data-blog/archived-webinar-key-reasons-to-move-the-data-warehouse-to-the-cloud/ [Accessed 1 September 2019].

 

 

Liquid labour: global media industries and the costs of immaterial production

Uncategorized

The internet has become a widely accessible source of knowledge that allows us to be connected as a network community anytime we want on multiple forms of devices. This means that the flexibility of working from home and connecting with our peers can happen anywhere and anytime – which is where the term liquid labour comes in. Liquid labour promotes flexible mobility for workers and even blurs the definition of work – as some people don’t have an office, they work for companies that are entirely based in the digital realm. This allows the ability to work from home.

Does the home-office type of liquid labour make workers more productive? We can definitely say that accessibility to communication has allowed individuals and companies to be more efficient with their time to deliver messages and files etc.

Personally, I don’t know if I would like to blur the lines between home and work. I created this remediation because I believe a home should be a place of rest and although the ability to work from home sounds appealing, I may be heavily distracted.

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BCM215 Comments and Self Reflection

Uncategorized

It has been an exciting journey to explore other students conceptualisations for their digital artefacts. I reviewed 3 individual and innovative ideas that I will share with you below. I will conduct a critical self-evaluation to see if my feedback was relevant to these students.

Firstly I provided feedback to Bodhi whose objective is to analyse and compare phone simulation games to real-life experiences – focusing on both surfing and car games.

You can find his project pitch and my comment linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuJJ7xm3QN (there was no comment button on his blog post).

I tried to be helpful by providing him with some direction in where he should head with this project. Like me, he does not have a lot of knowledge of video games but aims to incorporate his interests into his project. I suggested exploring the potential skills that video games can give to people who play these sports (i.e. surfing) in real life. I also game him another idea in which to explore movement-based video games as well as phone games, but this may make his digital artefact bigger than it needs to be. Additionally, I directed him to a list of potential games he can use for his analysis. I could do better in my feedback by perhaps helping him to structure his video for his artefact rather than piling more information on him as he seems he already knew a couple of games he would like to try. I am really interested in this project as it is slightly relevant to my own personal DA and I tried to draw some knowledge I gained from that on to him.

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Next, I learnt of the term loot boxes and what they were in Saxton’s digital artefact. He aims to explore the variants of loot boxes, the use of them by companies, rewards, fairness and the effects on younger children and adolescents. Although I had no idea what loot boxes were, I was interested in the discussion of loot boxes as a form of gambling and the effect that has on addiction. I then found an academic survey and a journal article that explore these factors which I linked below for him. I learnt a lot about the potential dangers that Saxton intends to discuss in his artefact. My feedback, however, may only be one-sided and I did not provide any possible information that defends the use of loot boxes in video games. I don’t know if he is for or against them but I hope he explores both sides in his video essays to capture a larger communities engagement. Through this, I plan to improve by not being completely one-sided when bringing suggestions and materials that can be useful to his project.

Saxton’s blog: https://saxonsparadise.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/loot-boxes-are-you-in-luck-or-just-a-loser/

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Lastly, I evaluated Nathan’s project pitch in which he aims to evaluate the accuracy of history in historical based video games. His pitch video was easy to understand and was a personal interest of mine so I tried to give him a couple of suggestions on how to produce his work to maximise his engagement and excel in feedback. I suggested a podcast as his project would have a lot of information that he could talk about. In case this was not a useful suggestion I also gave him a couple of ideas for his Youtube videos that could potentially make his project more successful. I found an interesting book that is relevant to his topic, however, I could have personally improved with my feedback by researching more academic articles that would have helped him – and that were maybe shorter to read than a book.

I learnt a lot about the new games that have recently come out that have some historical inaccuracies behind them. It made me want to research more about video games and the history that is represented through them. I plan to improve in my future feedback by learning about some other gaming examples that may be useful to his project, as he intends to talk about one game per video.

Nathan’s blog: https://nathansullivandotblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/bcm215-pitch-essay/comment-page-1/#comment-96

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Media Use: Surveillance on Mobile Devices

BCM241, Uncategorized

Are people dealing with the possibility of surveillance on their mobile devices?

“The looming interconnectivity between objects in our homes, cars and cities, generally referred to as the internet of things, will change digital surveillance substantially […] everything from washing machines to sex toys will soon be able to communicate, creating a vast amount of data about our lives. And this deluge of data won’t only be passed back and forth between objects but will most likely wind its way towards corporate and government reservoirs.” (The Guardian, 2015)

The conversation of mobile connectivity and surveillance is one that has worried generations of people as the internet has become more accessible. Accessibility to network devices has allowed us to connect to absolutely everything no matter where we are. We can contact someone from the other side of the globe. We can also send a signal to our kettles in the other room to start boiling. But are our devices being used by a third party for surveillance, and how is this affecting individuals that use mobile devices every day?

Last week I was talking to my friend about how I really wanted to get SNS on my nails. The very next day, my Facebook advertised for SNS on my feed. I wasn’t sure if I was just feeling paranoid or if my phone was actually listening to my conversations.

Both Google and Facebook have denied the accusations against their platforms listening on us to target appropriate advertising;

“Facebook does not use your phone’s microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in News Feed. Some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people’s conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true.” (USA Today, 2018).

Facebook, Amazon and Google have admitted to their devices listening in for “wake words”. Some examples include “OK, Google,” “Hey Siri” or “Alexa”, which are transported to the Cloud in order to process your request. They also say that they don’t monitor conversations. Facebook has additionally said that they only access the microphone on your phone if you agree to let them, so you can record videos etc.

So is the fear of surveillance changing the way we feel about carrying mobile devices with us everywhere? I conducted some qualitative research on students at the Wollongong campus to evaluate their experiences and ask if they had taken any precautions since.

One student spoke about an incident that occurred at the races in Sydney.

“When I went to the races I tried a Gordon’s cocktail and spoke about it, then after the races, I kept getting ads for it. I used to have the ‘hey Siri’ feature turned on but I got rid of Siri completely.”

Another person commented;

“I genuinely have not noticed anything specifically to do with my phone “listening” to me through the microphone, however, if I am on my calendar app typing in “gym”, my Facebook advertising begins to show me sponsored posts from echt, gymshark and other activewear brands. Because I study advertising & digital/social media, I understand and don’t actually mind the idea of the phone being able to take everything u type/say and sending the data off to brands, it’s just how target marketing work and data analysts acquire their statistics. I haven’t taken any specific precautions.”

Mostly everyone I interviewed had an example of a time they believed their phone was listening in on them, however, only 1 student took action against it by turning Siri off her phone.

Although networks such as Facebook and Google have denied mobile phone surveillance as a strategy to target advertising, device holders still believe that they are being listened to. Even so, not many are doing anything about it. Do you think we should be doing something?

References:

The Guardian. 2015. What Does the Panopticon Mean in the Age of Digital Surveillance?. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/23/panopticon-digital-surveillance-jeremy-bentham. [Accessed 17 September 2019].

USA Today. 2018. No, Facebook doesn’t secretly listen via your microphone to target ads at you. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/04/10/no-facebook-doesnt-secretly-listen-via-your-microphone-target-ads-you/505257002/. [Accessed 17 September 2019].

Images:

Matt Klein, (2017), Siri Image. Available at: https://www.howtogeek.com/229308/26-actually-useful-things-you-can-do-with-siri [Accessed 17 September 2019].

BCM215 DA PROJECT PITCH

BCM215, Uncategorized

Can video games make you a better athlete?

An important requirement for athletes in any sport is practice. Endurance, stamina and reaction times are just some examples of what individuals who play sports need to build in order to excel in what they do. You wouldn’t normally think of video games and athleticism in the same category of sport-based learning, however, skills such as problem-solving, speed, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness can be developed through playing video-games. Additionally, these are all important traits that athletes need to excel in their sports.

In my digital artefact, I want to research the correlations between sports training and video games that have a positive impact on athletes. I want to know, do video games help athletes to think in abstract ways? Does it strengthen their skills and their ability to play well?

I want to explore the research of sports-scientists, who have now been using analytics of video games to “test what some say is the next frontier in sports — the mind” (Estefanell, 2017).

An example of a game that is being used by athletes to test and improve their skills for games is a program called IntelliGym. IntelliGym was developed initially for Israeli fighter pilots, which tests cognitive performances such as spatial awareness. This program is currently being used by top European soccer clubs (Estefanell, 2017).

My intention for this digital artefact is to recognise the promise of the use of video games as sport-related training for professional athletes. I want to know if it is a useful test for cognitive performance and even physical benefits in both movement-based video games and non-movement-based video games.

Check out my Project Pitch on Youtube below:

References:

Videogames.org.au. (2019). Skills development as a benefit of playing video games. [online] Available at: https://www.videogames.org.au/skills-development/ [Accessed 14 Aug. 2019].

Estefanell, I. (2017). Could video games be the key to athletic success? | CBC Sports. [online] CBC. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/brain-gaming-industry-athletic-success-1.4114268 [Accessed 14 Aug. 2019].