Amanda Kenner

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Wiki Article #1: Zelda's Historians: Canonizing Fictional Chronologies

Game and Article Summary

The Legend of Zelda is a fantasy game series. The gamer plays through a character named Link who must solve puzzles, fight, explore usually to save Princess Zelda and her kingdom Hyrule from the reoccurring villain Ganandorf. There are 17 official games produced by Nintendo, which serve as the highly successful basis for a large and involved fan base.

The article Zelda's Historians: Canonizing Fictional Chronologies written by David R. Hussy discussed the fans who create timeline theories of the Zelda franchise. The premise of the article was that many Zelda fans act as historians of a fictional world in trying to establish of chronological timeline of all the games. The reason for the obsession cited in the article is because the Zelda games stand alone, rather than as a continuing story. There are allusions in each one to other games, however, these hints are not coherent enough to establish a simple timeline. This sparked a lot of intrigue into the true, secret chronology of the game. 

The author then goes on to compare actual historians with the fans of the game. He describes the methods the fans use to theorize about the chronology, such as their use of “historical thought”. He refers to the historian R.G. Collingwood and his book to describe historical thought, the two main aspects of which are "evidence" and "authority". He describes how the Zelda fans collect evidence from the games to come up with a theory, which is then open to criticism by the entire fan base. The Zelda fans also command authority by critically analyzing secondary sources not as fact, but interpretations, allowing for more thorough analyses of the timeline. The author commends the fan base’s ability to do the same work historians do in a fictional world without academic training.

Importance

Hussy’s main point which was how Zelda fans use methods of actual historical analyses to interpret the timeline of a fictional game indicates a social and cultural importance. The author mentions that "unsatisfied with the idea of not knowing the true history of franchise, chose to become potentially the first ever historians of a fictional world.” This is important because it demonstrates a gaming culture becoming so involved in a fictional world that they have essentially created a new discipline. Though it is a fictional world, they apply actual educational principles to satisfy their gaming desires. All the Zelda fans share an obviously intense fascination with the game, and a desire to know its history. On a lesser note, Zelda is actually a unifying factor for these gamers. They gather (probably mostly on the internet) to discuss and theorize about a shared interest, fostering social connections through the gaming culture

My Experience

There did not actually seem to be any comments underneath the article. I agree with the opinion that Zelda fans seem to be able to practice and master historical methods through the medium of the game in an accurate and impressive way. It reminds me of Model United Nations. For example, a Model United Nations is a simulation of a real world conference that discusses real issues and creates resolutions to try and fix those problems. In a Model UN, sometimes the problems are created for educational purposes, as a medium to learn about world politics, how to work with others to create solutions and public speaking. When you walk out of a Model UN, nothing real has been done, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened. All the participants and delegates have learned new skills applicable to the real world. The same thing seems to have happened in the gaming world through the channel of Zelda. Just because the timeline isn’t real, doesn’t mean the gamers aren’t developing actual real-world skills through a medium that interests them. I have played Zelda before, and though it doesn’t interest me to the same level as those creating theories, I can see the draw of wanting to find an answer to a question that has a large and committed audience. 

However, if one reads the Legend of Zelda Wikipedia page, it seems as though an official timeline has been released. I am sure, however, that the fans using the “authority” of historical thought are not going to unquestioningly accept the official timeline without further analysis and study.

Works Cited:

Hussy, David R. "Zelda's Historians: Canonizing Fictional Chronologies." ‘’Play The Past RSS’’. Play the Past , n.d. Web. 2 June 2014. <http://www.playthepast.org/?p=3780>.

"The Legend of Zelda." ‘’Wikipedia’’. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 4 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda>.


Wiki #2: Internet Regulations, Privacy, and the Future

SOPA, PIPA, Copyright and Privacy

Harvey pointed out in his article that the Constitution is “creaky” and needs to adapt to the rapidly changing world with laws that further protect our privacy. In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that the Bill of Rights establishes a right to privacy, but what does that mean in this new technological age? Is our reasonable expectation of privacy reduced when we knowingly put our information on the internet? The lack of structured laws surrounding internet privacy and government intrusion have opened the door for dangerous policies in an attempt to regulate the information on the internet. Specifically around copyright laws and intellectual property and cyber security. Unfortunately, cyber security laws, and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are laws that were proposed to fight copyright infringement proposed by individuals with barely a working knowledge of the internet, and are therefore vague and arbitrary. The language in these bills would be subject to governmental abuse, censorship, violation of privacy, and in practice would have little effect on piracy (Harvey). That is a heavy cost for weak results.

Net Neutrality and Big Corporations

SOPA and PIPA are not the only questionable proposed governmental regulations being considered however. In the debate of Net Neutrality, the new rules proposed by the FCC would create a fast lane for big companies and slow internet connection for smaller web sites and branches. This would facilitate internet monopolies like Comcast to merge with their “competition” and require their branches like Netflix to pay more “or else”. A disturbing element of this story pointed out by John Oliver in his show “Last Week Tonight" is that President Obama appointed Tom Wheeler, a former lobbyist for cable and wireless companies as the new Chairman of the FCC, an individual who would obviously have a favorable bias towards the companies that need to be regulated. As Vi Hart pointed out in her YouTube video, “Capitalism can’t work if a monopoly is blocking the way” but that is exactly what the FCC is trying to facilitate.

Edward Snowden, the NSA and the Fight for Privacy

Edward Snowden was an individual patriot fighting for our privacy. As a former employee of the NSA (Nation Security Agency), he personally witnessed the pervasive surveillance practices of the government, and after several complaints was compelled to leak secret information to the public. He mentioned in his interview with NBC News that a lot of the things the governments says “simply aren’t true.” Now, even though he took care not to release information that could hurt someone, he is trapped in Russia and wanted for espionage in the United States. For him, 9/11 was very close to home and personal, and he accused the government of exploiting the tragedy and tricking Americans into sacrificing their freedom for more protection. He warned that a security state is defined as “prioritizing security over all other considerations” which is especially worrisome when considering the likely scenario that innocent people are targeted as cyber threats. Lastly, he notes that “What is right is not always legal. Sometimes to do the right thing, you have to break the law” - a poignant statement for an American to consider in relation to their government. Considerations like these surpass the trivial debate around copyright laws in the music industry, forecasting a bleak future for America.

Anonymous

Edward Snowden said he wasn’t bound by his community in his location, but could use the internet to “be American” which is a similar sentiment to that of Licklider when he wrote that our future social interactions would be through the internet because we could connect with those who have similar interests, rather then be bound by where we are and who is around us. Anonymous is one such network, using their common interests for a common goal. Anonymous is a decentralized, activist, anti-establishment network of anonymous hackers around the world. Their network is controversial, and their work in the past has involved attacks on governments, corporations, encouragements of revolts in countries such as Tunisia during the Arab Spring, and just pranking for fun. (Wikipedia)

Anonymous is important in the fight for free information, and outdated copyright laws. They have hacked the computers of government officials, and influencing the actions of the big corporations in question by hacking their computers, and “dumping the data on the internet” for the world to see. Though that may not be exactly what Snowden had in mind, it gets a similar message across. A notable example was their attack on Sony, who was suing those “circumventing encryption” to run Linux on their Playstation 3 consoles. Anonymous attacked Sony, releasing a video of their demands, hacking around 77 million Playstation accounts, and resulting in a fall of their stock prices. The interesting aspect of the story is the very few arrests that have resulted from their actions. Anonymous’ methods of fighting the government and large corporations garnered results, with almost no repercussions (Norton).

Free Information and Future America

The main theme in copyright laws, cyber security, privacy, social sharing and consumer content is free information. Free information has proved efficient and valuable to Wikipedia and Linux, which have very accurate information, and extremely fast software updates, respectively. The world of free information is a threat to big corporations and the government, both of which have more than their fair share of secrets and intrusions. In the fight for copyright and security, the government is willing to sacrifice our privacy, but are we? Luckily, there are people out their advocating for protection and new laws, not from a scary, abstract “threat” but from our own government.

Works Cited

"Anonymous." . Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29>.

Jason , Harvey. "blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP." blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP. Reddit, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://www.redditblog.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html>.

Norton, Quinn. "2011: The Year Anonymous Took On Cops, Dictators and Existential Dread | Threat Level | WIRED." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 9 Jan. 0012. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://www.wired.com/2012/01/anonymous-dicators-existential-dread/all/1>.