Daniel Sato

AngryJournalist                                                                   Happy Journalist

This has nothing to do with journalism, but sometimes you just need something random to shine some light on a long day.

I found this while reading the web comic Penny Arcade.

garfield minus garfield:

“Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.”

I hadn’t really given my time at Brooks any thought until I went home to Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago to find this waiting in my mail pile.

Currently, Brooks has the full NOTICE and CLAIM FORM available for download.

Though my professor was not thrilled, I have decided to do my MCOM 100W article on Multi-User Virtual Environment games such as Second Life and the effects they can have on education. In order to learn more about the game and its possible applications I met with Steve Sloan and resident SJSU Second Life expert Jeremy Kemp on Wednesday.

In speaking with the two, I learned of the positive effects that such environments could have on distance learning, providing an immersive and engaging learning experience. Another possible benefit was the experiential learning that could take place withing a virtual environment. In the case of a journalism classroom, Mr. Sloan gave the example of staging a news event, such as a shuttle crash, and having students in-world have to interview witnesses and experts as they might do in the real world. The virtual world allows instructors to set up news situations that are not possible to experience in the real world due to location, cost or any other number of restrictions.

One word that continued to come up during the discussion was serendipity. Following our talk, I went online to learn more about Second Life and how educators across the country are employing the technology. I came across the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. The Berkman Center has an in-world presence known as Berkman Island. On the island, users can take online classes and participate in and watch moot court trials.

The next moot court trial listed under Berkman Island Info and Events follows the case of Josh Wolf, the journalist currently imprisoned for refusing to give video footage of a 2005 protest to authorities. Coincidentally, I am currently working on a project about this case in my ANTH 136 Thought Control class. Because Harvard Law School offers this virtual learning environment I now have the opportunity to witness a moot court trial presided over by Prof. Charles Nesson and argued by students from Harvard Law School.