Rachel Helps

Think videogames are violent? Children’s stories may prove more terrifying.

So-called “helicoptor parents” supervise their children constantly and moniter all the media they consume to make sure they don’t run into anything terrifying. With good reason—violent, innuendo-filled videogames and television shows aren’t appropriate for young children. But parenting wasn’t always

Will computer-generated images spell the end of photography?

Advertising firms have never really gone for photorealism, but rather a fantasy version of reality. Photoshop was just a stepping stone in their journey to using competely computer-generated images, which are often clearer and cheaper. The images are hyperreal: so perfect and realistic that we can’t

What can toilet graffiti teach us about gendered speech?

Men are like / pantyhose / they either / run / cling / or don’t fit right / in the crotch -anonymous toilet graffiti Before the Internet, memes had to propagate through physical means like chain letters (laboriously hand copied), billboards, and graffiti. Bathroom graffiti in particular allows resea

Open source software for digital art downplays artistic secrecy.

The open source movement is all about changing technology from “how do they do that?” to “why didn’t I think of that?” Media artists (game designers, web designers, etc) are embracing open source by contributing to software like Processing and openFrameworks. The creative media software make things

Is your passion for games genetic?

Even with an ideal therapist, therapy doesn’t work for everyone. Figuring out beforehand could save therapy-goers money and disappointment. One trend in medical research is to look at a person’s genetic profile to see if it affects how they will respond to a certain medication. Psychology researcher