Sphero EDU work

Sphero EDU work

                                         
For DTE this term we have started programming through basic javascript and block code with Sphero's edu app. The Sphero's are round circular balls that we enjoy playing with quite a lot. What you can do with them is definitely limited but there is still much creativity available such as using block or line code with variables to create a hot potato game with an object that would usually just be used for rolling around the place. Our assessment for this topic was to create additions to a game we have created through the basic block and javascript tutorials or make our own game.

My first plan was to do the Hot Potato game and change it to have periodic things that make it harder to catch or throw. I experimented around on javascript with the options available as well as on block code but unfortunately, I could not find a fun and interactive way to make multiple challenging "events" happen. Once I failed to implement my first idea I switched ideas around and instead tried to make a game like hot potatoe exept sometimes you would have to roll or answer a question instead of throwing it. This idea required quite a few variables making it much more of a challenge. However, I encountered a problem with getting the sphero to properly sense when it is being thrown. You do have an option that allows it to do this however I could not get it accurate enough to work at least 70% of the time.

I eventually had to scrap the rolling idea and instead make it either ask a question or be thrown. I had the timer variable set up and working and a system that would randomly select either a throw or a question. However, I was running out of time with about only 1 hour left and because of this, I could not finish this game I was planning. The things I still had to do but could not finish included setting up variables that chose random questions and (if possible) one that would get rid of a question from being able to be asked after being asked once. When a question would be chosen you would have x seconds depending on the round to answer it. There, of course, was no way for me to get the Sphero to recognize if you had gotten it right or wrong so it would be down to if the opponent listened well enough since the Sphero would answer itself after time ran out.

This period of time playing around and programming the Sphero have definitely been fun and interesting. I have experience with programming in Warcraft 3 which uses a unique code called JASS as well as gui for some stuff. Javascript I had not really experience with until now, it has definitely been good so far and I have started to learn some of the basics of this javascript. My only regret is not figuring out what I would do with the sphero and trying to think too outside the box. I should have done something smaller in scale yet I did not want to do something so "easy" yet I found out later on that these out of the box ideas were mostly impossible. The sphero is definitely a great thing for beginners in coding and can be a lot of fun.

How media shapes your gender and some previous DTE work

How media shapes your gender

Media is dangerous but amazing at the same time. It shapes how we see our world and how we are raised, it allows someone from Australia and someone in America to communicate as if they were right next to each other. It conveys messages, sometimes fake sometimes true. These messages can shape peoples beliefs and ideas, an example is how the general amount of media depicts Males and Females. This applies to all genders no matter what you identify as however it mostly affects the two sexes, this, of course, is Male and Female. A quick example is some of the more recent feminism. Feminism is what gave women equality in many of the country's we see today, however, quite a few people now have taken it into man shaming. This man shamming is created to make men feel bad about their gender, it stereotypes every single man born and paints them as evil oppressors that seek only to use people to get their own way. However this, of course, is not true, yes sure there are men that do that but there are also many women that do it as well. The point is that this media is designed to inflict harm to the male population and it does this by convincing women that men are bad causes these people to lash out at men. It also makes males that take in this media to look down on themselves and their gender, therefore, it shapes their views and how they are a person. 

For our project in DTE, we used the site Digital Bytes. On this site, we could choose a topic, then watch a video that generalises it and then looks at a question asked and answer it with our thoughts. Then we watched another video based on if we wanted to look at how women are affected by media or how men are. Then we answered some more questions with our thoughts. I chose the men side so I will cover that more than the Women side of this topic. However that is not to say that Women don't have it as bad as Men since in my opinion, both sides share the same amount of hardship from media shaping their gender, however, it happens to both of them with some differences and similarities.

So to start it off I watched the Gender and Media video. You can access it by clicking on this sentence. Next, I answered one of the questions given about the video. "What was the biggest takeaway from the video?" The biggest takeaway, in my opinion, is the fact that this is happening to this extent. That so much of our behaviour these days is from these gender stereotypes and that every day there are teens that are giving in to what the media says about them shaping their personality and thoughts of themselves. Girls are told that they should look good, this causes females to have so much more thoughts of their looks worrying if someone thinks they are ugly and this leads to many seeing themselves as ugly and in many cases getting into depressed moods. It's made even worse by people that have anxiety disorders or depression. Guys are taught that you should look for looks in a female, however, they are also taught to not show emotions such as depression and worry-fulness, that they are supposed to always be the strong person and dominant. However, one point I do disagree with in the videos is a bit of what they say. This subject is a bit of an older topic but it still shows just not in the exact way they say. Small things like Household violence cases favouring females and new stereotypes have arisen while some are no longer a thing. One point I really disagree with is them talking about movie and video game violence as a research project has proven it to not do that. 

The last activity was to look at what an ideal man is like to the media. An Ideal man shown in the media is strong, good looking and all of that stuff. However, in real life, you will find that this is barely anyone it is mostly celebrities that make out that they are like this as it helps them get more views and fans.


Here is some of my previous work around this topic.
 https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/isCds6Xe8Yo/being-cybersmart is an infographic about cyber smart
https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/rfVPTtNF57Q/how-to-customize-your-infographic-template is a infographic on ergonomics