About Me
I am a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon's MA in Rhetoric program. I am from the rural town of Pelahatchie, Mississippi. My interests lie in interactive fiction and the narratives told through the medium. I initially began my study of interactive fictions at Mississippi College, through my undergraduate thesis on Disco Elysium. Outside of academia, I enjoy watching movies, such as A Monster Calls and Dead Poets Society. I love to critique movies with my friends, and you can view some of our favorite moments together on my Instagram, which is linked below.
My name is Colburn Jones.
"This other guy" (see left) is a virtual avatar of myself created from the original Xbox 360's avatar software. He's here because he represents a large part of my interests; although I did my fair share of reading as a kid, thanks to my grandmother, I also consumed a lot of narrative stories through video games. To me, this avatar is an example of how interactive fictions have the ability to impact an audience. The stories interacted with through that one console impacted me and millions of other kids, and that impact needs to be studied.
Who's this other guy?
BACKGROUNDS
All backgrounds used in this website were created through AI generated image prompts. Although I acknowledge the dangerous components of AI and the risk it brings to multiple job markets, it has already become a significant component of everyday life. Rather than fearfully ignore AI, I suggest using it as a tool to elevate any work, but I think it's crucial to use it cautiously and to communicate when it is used. Any tool can become dangerous if relied on too heavily. Although I would love to have hired an artist to create background images for my site, that is outside of my capabilities, but AI allowed me to incorporate what was previously inaccessible to me. As we enter this next era of creation, I hope many artists learn to say the same, while staying true to their own talents.
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My Philosophy
"a harsh divide between what I wanted to communicate and what I was able to communicate"
"interactive texts are a key component to trying to cross that divide"
When I was much younger, I created an idea for a machine that would sit on someone’s head like a hat and project all their thoughts onto a monitor for an audience to view. My invention attempted to provide a solution to what was my biggest problem in life at the time, my inability to draw. My five-year-old brain contained an entire world filled with superheroes, villains, and numerous other examples of copyrighted content, but I struggled to find a way to share that world with others. I found a harsh divide between what I wanted to communicate and what I was able to communicate, which is a divide many writers face every day.
I believe that interactive texts are a key component to trying to cross that divide, and an education that focuses on covering a variety of types of media is crucial to not only crafting a student’s longevity but also encouraging the generation of new methods of communication. I want to study new genres of text and media, including videogames, regardless of their objective successfulness, because each of them functioned as an attempt to bridge that gap, and I find it crucial to understand why some forms of media work while others fail in any given situation. I do not claim that videogames are the ultimate type of interactive fiction or that interactivity itself is the final piece of the communication puzzle, but I believe that interactive fiction, especially videogames, have made a dramatic improvement in media’s ability to impact an audience, allowing consumers to be enthralled by a world to a higher degree than previously possible. I hope to develop a skillset that can be employed in a variety of mediums, preparing me to analyze modern forms of texts as well as new forms that have yet to be developed.
Beyond a master’s degree, I want to eventually earn my doctorate and become a professor, where I can give my students the opportunity I was given, to develop a strong toolset and have the freedom to apply it to any form of media they are passionate for, regardless of my awareness or experience with that medium. I practiced this at the Mississippi College Writing Center, where I taught writers the argumentative skills I had developed, enabling them to use the same skills on topics I had little experience in. Although I desire to widen my skillset and strengthen my analytical abilities, I also want to prepare myself for the opportunity to teach others the skills I have learned, allowing them to analyze their own texts from numerous different forms, and I am confident I can achieve both goals through a study of rhetoric.
Ted Talk
I believe that the valuable conversations we find in an academic settings need to be made available within public settings. Many of my classes have reshaped how I think about myself and the world, and I wish to share the opportunity for a large audience to have a similar experience.
From my undergraduate thesis on Disco Elysium's ending, I found a message of hope that applies to both the game world and our world. My findings serve as an example of how I think games are capable of bringing forth a positive impact, and I show how Disco Elysium's final message impacts our lives here.
To fulfill my wish, I've compiled what I believe to be the most impactful section of my discussion into an 18-minute Ted Talk style presentation. I value participating in academic discussions, and I strive to share the outcomes of those discussions with the public, so that they too may share the positive impact.
"if this message is true for Harry Du Bois, then surely it is true for us."
My Reflection as an English Scholar
"Writing was always a dream of mine, but it was never an option."
I find it incredibly difficult to properly articulate my appreciation for the experience I’ve gained through my study of English, and I attribute the majority of this difficulty to my near inability to think of myself as anything but an English scholar. However, less than three years ago, I was a biology major determined to become a dentist so I may pursue my passion for writing on my days off. Writing was always a dream of mine, but it was never an option. My teachers and family regularly acknowledged my skill for writing, but they also intently reminded me of the reality of pursuing such a career. Choosing to study English partially represented my decision to follow my dreams but more significantly showed my willingness to forgo any of my previous notions of success. Luckily, I already began earning an English Writing minor, and the value I accredited to the experience I had in those initial English courses outweighed the previous value I had associated with a wealthy career. Since pursuing English Writing, I have only found more value as I’ve enrolled in more intensive courses. I conduct research in ways I could not have comprehended nor believed to be a possibility, and I study topics I never considered academically viable, despite their intensive impact on me. As I continue my academic career, I desire for more difficult decisions that will lead me into newer, more intensive, fields of study, so that I may increase my knowledge in ways I could not previously comprehend.
