No matter where you go...there you are.

Final Blog!

2010-11-17T10:40:00.001-08:00

Scott McCloud illustrates (Ha Ha!) an insightful picture of digital technologies and the future of comics in his article Reinventing Comics. The convergence of print into the digital realm (or repurposed print, as McCloud refers to it) isn’t something new. Walter Ong had written a whole book about the transformation of text in Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982). In this book Ong wrote about the same kind of convergence that McCloud refers to. What was once limited to the oral later adapted to the written which was later adapted to the digital. It is and will always be a progression and evolution of what was once only oral communication. McCloud wrote “…the ultimate goal for comics – as far as any art form – will be to find a durable mutation that will continue to survive and thrive well into the new century.” (207) This could not be more true. As with any art form, comics can be perceived as art in the form of visual literacy. The juxtaposition of text with images can have powerful implications in meaning (as we have studied by reading Birdsell and Groarke) but even more so in the digital realm. However there is still a fine line in being walked between print and hypertext. Comics introduction and adaptation into the digital medium offers fantastic enhancements. The inclusion of sound, motion and interactivity make the digital comic something more that what previously existed in print. The fine line, as McCloud pointed out, relies on the ability to keep the comic from morphing into a medium such as film, or from losing its identity in the face of the hypertext itself. Will digital technology kill the comic? I would venture to guess that no, it won’t. Again, it’s about adaptation. As with any art form that has entered the digital pool it either needs to adapt and find a way to carve a unique niche for itself or it will be lost, killed, or replaced as a form of art.

Likewise the monitor is a window or better yet a doorway that frees us from the confines of the paper and print. McCloud discusses how this doorway opens up the world (of comics) giving us room to stretch our limbs. Even more than this, the monitor opens doors. It is simply a threshold to the infinite space that is cyberspace and all that it encompasses: information, countless and countless doorways to information. Is there a better metaphor for the monitor than this? Perhaps, but I like to think that a window or a doorway is simple enough in describing what the monitor represents to us.

Finally, which one text/link/pdf would I save from demise? This is a hard question to answer because there is so much out in the world in analog and digital form that has meaning to me. Before the computer and cyberspace I would probably have to say the Bible, not because I’m a Bible thumper or anything like that, but because it is the one book that brings immense hope and comfort to millions of souls across the planet (not to mention it’s the most widely translated and printed text in existence). Whether one considers themselves a Christian or not, in the bleakest of times it perhaps contains something that could speak to almost anyone. I think I’d also want to save my copy of the Joy of Cooking as well, because I like to read cookbooks and it’s the mother of them all!

Works Cited:

McCloud, Scott. Reinventing Comics. New York: Perennial, 2001. 199-241. Print.

Blog #6: Pomp and Circumstance

2010-10-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Lanham’s An Alphabet That Thinks was only slightly an enlightening article. I say slightly because I found his C-B-S model of communication (clarity-brevity-sincerity) to be an easy target for shooting holes into. In theory, Lanham argues that the C-B-S model means that we should be clear, concise, plain, and sincere in our communication both in verbal language and perhaps in text as well. In this model there is no room for fluff, no room for little white lies, no room for imagery or semiotics, and we should top it off with a healthy dose of sincerity as well. I struggle with that a lot. When was the last time I had a conversation with someone that followed this model? How truthful can one be, without the sugar coating, without the fluffy imagery to get one’s point across and without ruffling feathers? This is not to say that I lie or am not sincere or that I speak full of imagery, but that being that plain and honest could have devastating repercussions (depending on the situation)…and who wants that??

Lanham thinks that words can be equivalent to “stuff”. The C-B-S model is “one based on the exchange of goods, of physical stuff. Words are like things and ideally should be things.”(137) By being direct, plain, truthful and conservative with our words (so as not to waste one’s time) we would be adhering to the clarity-brevity-sincerity. However Lanham also points to rhetoric as “the general term of abuse we now use for everything not conforming to C-B-S code” (139) and has been portrayed as a woman: a temptress, hiding behind her “rhetorical mask” and tempting us with her poisoned words pouring from pouty, glossy lips down into the pits of hell! Lanham sees the flaws in the C-B-S model. He is happy to point them out and although it is powerful and important, it is indeed limited because “It argues that all expression should be transparent, not noticed existing only to showcase the meaning.” (141) Does the C-B-S model really showcase the meaning? My gut tells me no. I like the fluff, the pomp and circumstance, the imagery and that temptress woman named Rhetoric. It makes like interesting and, like visual rhetoric, leaves “meaning” up to the listener/viewer to decipher.

Works Cited

Lanham. "DTC|English 355: Schedule." Paul Muhlhauser, Ph,Doctor. 2010. Web. 19 Oct.

2010.

DTC 355: Blog #5

2010-10-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Textology and the Digital Revolution

James R. Kalmbach in his article Publishing Before Computers gives a brief albeit thorough history of writing. From the alphabet to the printing press to reproductive technologies like the xerox, people throughout time have not only become authors, but they have become publishers. Kalmbach writes, “Over the years, publishing and the technologies for publishing have evolved from a limited, conserving activity to a pervasive form of social transaction,” and his goal is to “show that even though the technologies change the ways in which these technologies are used, the social forces they respond to have remained fairly constant.” (222) Those social forces produced digital technology which changed the way we learn and communicate. This is especially true through Textology.

Textology is the digital revolution of creative authoring and publishing, putting text previously reproduced only on paper into the abyss of cyberspace for the public to both revere and scrutinize. We still wake up in the morning to our faithful cup of coffee, but instead of reaching for the confines of our newspapers, we log onto the Internet and put our thoughts, ideas, opinions and emotions out into the world before we even reach the bottom of the first cup. Computers and mobile technology have put the power of text into daily practice. It’s not that the daily newspaper has been replaced, it’s the layer upon layer of hypertext dispersed across the planet - linking our countless souls. This linking further propels the social forces that text created and continues to change mankind. We are kindred spirits with digital technology; evolving and changing the face of literacy, understanding and communication.

I reach for my smartphone and type out a quick message: “How did kiddo do this morning?” I log onto Facebook, checking and sharing trivial bits of information or relaying the latest emotional status through short, yet never ending, bursts of text. I use punctuation as a way to pace my thoughts and to impress my emotions. The following is an example of this:

“Holy cow! The soon to be vacant duplex next door was advertised last nite with signs in the front yard that read: FOR RENT. In the 2 hours I've been home, I have seen 7 cars stop in the middle of the intersection to write down the number or call the Landlord. I even had one person knock on my door to ask me when someone would respond to her call. I'm scared. :/”

Just as the alphabet, the typewriter and xerography propelled literacy and communication through time, digital technology and textology will continue to make the power of text dynamic, fluid and ever evolving.

Works Cited:
Kalmbach, James. "Publishing Before Computers." 2002. Web. 1 Oct. 2010

DTC 355: Blog #4

2010-09-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

We’ve covered a lot of material in the six short weeks of this semester. Having to sit down and pick out the most important thing I’ve learned this semester is proving to be a little hard. Theoretically I think the most important thing I’ve learned would have to be the power of rhetorical images. It’s not that I didn’t understand the power behind visual images, but it’s the first time I had been forced to look beyond the surface of an image and to have to theoretically pick it apart and acknowledge its importance in context. Charles A. Hill’s article was the perfect precedence to the readings to follow and set the stage for putting the power of rhetoric in our digital world.

The other element in our class that has struck a chord with me is the CRAP principles. It would be dishonest and unfair for me to say that I am satisfied with the theories we’re learning in class. Although they are fulfilling and interesting, I am a little disappointed that we haven’t had more opportunities to hone our CRAP skills and put design into practice. Critically thinking about how digital technology has impacted our world is something this degree heavily focuses on but design is also a part of this degree that I could really use practice at because it would enable to me to put all those wonderful theories into practice. Ours is a visual and digital culture. How will I make my mark?

Part II: Burbules

The links I am choosing to write about begins with the Corn Refiners Association website. I have previously done some research about CRA’s petition to have the name of high fructose corn syrup changed to “corn sugar”. Because the story I read online began with the Corn Refiners Association, I began my research there. In revisiting their site I began looking for links and their association to Burbules tropes. I perused CRA’s home page http://www.corn.org/ and was immediately drawn to their IMPORTANT LINKS section. Under this section of their home page, only 4 links were listed: SweetSurprise.com, Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), American Beverage Association (ABA), and American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

I was drawn to two of the links not previously researched: Grocery Manufacturers of America and American Beverage Association. When clicking on GMA’s site there was no real connection I could decipher at first. But Burbules metonymy came to mind and (I hope) is the connection. Yes, corn is a food product and it seems natural to have them listed as an “important” link. (is it similar? Or is it “contiguity, relations in practice.”) (111) Likewise, GMA’s first “What’s New” news headline was a story about First Lady Michelle Obama’s address to GMA’s science forum advocating her recently launched Let's Move program and GMA’s http://www.makingfoodbetter.com/, both set in place at efforts to combat childhood obesity and promote healthier foods for children. (are these better examples of metonymy?)

The other link, American Beverage Association (ABA) is a bit trickier. After much thought, I felt it was part of the sequence and cause/effect trope. I thought this because “they do not specify or explain such connections, but simply manifest them…”(115) CRA’s association (sequence) with ABA is simply high fructose corn syrup. Every carbonated beverage has this ingredient, as do most other beverage manufactured. ABA’s move to provide lower-calorie, smaller portion and more nutritious drinks in schools across the country are in many ways a direct effect of the impact high fructose corn syrup has made in its links to childhood obesity. I could go on and on about this subject and its connections to Burbules, but since this blog is twice as long as recommended. I’m going to stop here.

DTC 355: Blog #3

2010-09-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is the same ad used in my presentation. The reason why I like this ad is because of the underlying theme of patriotism that accompanies this ad. As a viewer, the theme of this advertisement is a perfect example of affect transfer. Affect transfer is an example of classical conditioning, "wherein an emotional response from an unrelated object or event is transferred to the product being sold, simply by showing an image of the product followed by an image of the emotional object or event and repeating the procedure many times." (37) In this instance, Tide is showing an image of their product with a red, white and blue and American flag background. By displaying their product in this way, they are trying to appeal and tap into the consumers emotional attachment to America and their patriotism. We often see themes like this in advertisements. As if it is a beacon of light to a thwarted ship in rough waters, we unconsciously see the red, white and blue and think, "That's American! That's what I want." Okay, maybe that's not exactly what we think but is definitely a recurring theme in political, advertising, and marketing campaigns that aim to appeal to American's patriotism and belief in all things American made. It is not unusual, as Charles A. Hill points out in his article The Psychology of Rhetorical Images, for professional persuaders to move to appeal to the emotions of their subjects to incite favoritism. Strong emotions have, and often times, override analytical approaches to situations, events, images, etc. What is interesting about affect transfer is that like Pavlov's dog, we are easily conditioned to be manipulated, even if it doesn't feel like manipulation. This is part of the reason why advertising is a successful multi-billion dollar business! The purpose lies in persuading consumers to buy and by tapping into or appealing to our emotions has proven to both effective and successful.

Works cited:

rles. "The Psychology of Rhetorical Images." Defining Visual Rhetorics. Ed. Charles A. Hill and Marguerite Helmers. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. 25-40.

DTC 355: Blog #2

2010-08-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

My name is Dena Lacey and this is my embarrassing story.

It was some time in the fall of 2002. I was working at Apple Computer in Austin, Texas as a Sales Support Specialist trying to claw my way up to the next rung of an endless corporate ladder. I had recently been approved to train for another position in the dog race for a title that today eludes me. With much trepidation I sat down at the desk to shadow my trainer, Eric, and jump into using a totally new software program that had more loopholes and less organization than a chaotic board of mismatched Scrabble words. Phone call after fielded phone call left me feeling helpless and stupid as I tried to navigate through the software program and commit it to memory; the minutes and the hours ticking by as the frustration mounted. My trainer patiently explained the program AGAIN and I felt more pressure to succeed despite his patience and reassurance that this was a difficult program to master. To add to my frustration, other work laid waiting at my own desk and a mandatory staff meeting was creeping up on us.

Then it happened. The call came in and like a perfect dream I was able to complete the call, navigate the software and complete the task without help from Eric. We shared an elated high five before signing off the phones and heading to our meeting. As we walked down the hall and stood in the threshold of the conference room where our meeting was being held I blurted out an enthusiastic but warped, “I DID IT!” I say warped because the way in which I uttered these words can best, albeit not necessarily PC, be described as being said like a ruhtard (retard). Everyone within earshot could clearly hear me and the manner in which I spoke these words, and since I was standing in the doorway of the conference room, this would include more than half of my co-workers and peers including my immediate supervisors and, much to my dismay, 3 executive supervisors visiting our campus. All eyes were on me. Even though half the room was laughing at me because they thought the way I made my exuberant statement was funny, I could feel the color and heat rise underneath the surface of my skin; my embarrassment was impossible to conceal. Even a couple of the execs thought it was funny and wanted to know what had made me so happy. From that day on, I was unfortunately known as the “I DID IT!” ruhtard and anytime anybody did something good, they would exclaim, “I DID IT!”

What did I learn that day? Look before you speak, especially when entering a conference room for a staff meeting!

For part two of this assignment, we are asked to answer the question: What is dangerous about amplification through simplification?

In sitting down to contemplate the answer to this question the first thing I thought of was cartoons I enjoy watching like Venture Bros. or South Park. Each of these adult cartoons focuses precisely on amplification through simplification as described by Scott McCloud. By stripping down “real life” to something cartoon political and social norms can be parodied to point out the ridiculousness of an event or situation. What I consider to be dangerous about this is that although it’s funny, the message can be masked by the simple pleasure of the cartoon. Perhaps the cartoonist/creator is trying to make a point and bring awareness to their audience. However, the audience runs the risk of misinterpreting the message or missing it altogether. Worse yet, I have seen/heard people misinterpret the message and adopting this misinterpretation as their own philosophy. As McCloud wrote, “The cartoon is a vacuum into which our identity and awareness are pulled…an empty shell that we inhabit which enables us to travel in another realm.” Sometimes it seems a shame we do this…sometimes.

McCloud, Scott. The Vocabulary of Comics. Print.

DTC 355: Blog #1

2010-08-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

According to Foss, Foss and Trapp rhetoric is defined as “the human use of symbols to communicate.” (1) Foss et al have broken down this definition into three parts consisting of “human”, “symbols” and “communicate.” They agree that humans are symbol-using animals that create realities through the use of symbols. That is to say, we as humans have the mental capacity and intelligence to assign meaning to symbols in order to communicate.

“Symbols are distinguished from signs by the degree of direct connection to the object represented.”(2) Foss, Foss and Trapp used the example of a tree. Standing alone in a forest a tree isn’t a symbol, but the word chosen to represent “tree” is a symbol. Likewise, the tree can be symbolic as is the case with a Christmas tree. “Rhetoric” is often easily interchangeable with the word “communication.” Foss, Foss and Trapp say the distinction between defining “rhetoric” and “communication” depends on the person, and whether the meaning of something is intended or not.

Even throughout the history of rhetoric, Foss et al reiterate that rhetoric is linked to education and literacy, indicating that humans and their use of symbols are essential to communication. It is an art incorporating the five canons of rhetoric: invention/discovery, organization, elocution or style, delivery and memory. Although there has been rhetoric has seen its share of evolution through time, it stands firm in its association with human, symbols, and communication.

Merriam-Webster dictionary online: (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric)
Definition of RHETORIC
1 : the art of speaking or writing effectively: as
a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times
b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
2 a : skill in the effective use of speech
b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquent language
3: verbal communication : discourse

Answer.com: (http://www.answers.com/topic/rhetoric)
1. a. The art or study of using language effectively and persuasively.
b. A treatise or book discussing this art.
2. Skill in using language effectively and persuasively.
3.a. A style of speaking or writing, especially the language of a particular subject: fiery political rhetoric.
b. Language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous: His offers of compromise were mere rhetoric.
4. Verbal communication; discourse.

I chose to include the expanded definitions given for rhetoric because I thought it was appropriate and conducive to our reading’s definition. Even in trying to explain Foss, Foss and Trapp’s definition of rhetoric I found it hard to just simplify it. The same applies to the definitions I found online. It isn’t a theory; it isn’t black or white. Rhetoric encompasses using the five canons. Words like “study”, “art”, “language”, “effective”, “communicate” all indicate a level of intelligence that accompanies the use of rhetoric. As Foss et al have described in their article, the art of rhetoric originates and requires education.

LAST BLOG about presentations for DTC 475! Woohoo!

2010-05-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Dan A.: Exploring the correlation between video games and virtual communities
Argument: The learning principles of video games are enhanced in online environments, and this enhancement may account for an increase in the number of online gaming community members.

I really like the idea of affinity groups and civic involvement as well as pointing out the possible oppositions with this including violence correlation and causation. If I understand it (and my notes) correctly, I think community building and learning through this is a good focus.

Mike P.: cybercrimes, real vs. virtual

There was an enormous amount of information in your presentation. I think you should narrow it down and focus on one particular aspect of cybercrime including your own personal experience as back up. You're on your way to a good paper.

Lee K.: YouTube’s unique roles – political activism and the perpetuation of hate
Although I can see your point of view with this topic, I was a little confused as to how your argument ties into some of what we discussed this semester. Perhaps focusing on what are YouTube’s policies and rules on posting and filtering and how this factors into your topic? I wasn't quite sure exactly what your argument was.

Angel A: Bridging the digital divide by using the concepts of video games and education
Students need to become actively involved in learning how to use new technologies which can be accomplished by applying the concepts of video games in education.
Why video games?: by using video game concepts students much become active problem solvers. They learn thru advancement.

I think your information is well thought out and you are on your way to a good paper. I especially like your DYN example and think that finding similar successful examples of how this is positively affecting education would be great backup!

Derek N.: Bridging the gap: mobile phones and the digital divide
I like where you were going with this and think you have some solid examples of how the gap is being bridged by the cheaper and readily available mobile phone movement. Although there will still be accessibility issues, mobile phone technology definitely helps!

Kristin D.: Program Hope: addressing the issues of access knowledge and safely on the internet
Wow! I mean, like, WOW! Great presentation and a totally feasible idea that with further tweeking could even be pitched to the State of Washington as a viable and positive way to educated our youth to digital/technological/Internet responsibility. Wished I had thought of it!

Brent R.: Online activity and involvement changes us and the world we live in culturally
Although you have some really good stuff in your presentation, I have to admit it sounds a bit like everything we've been talking about all semester. Tweek your argument a bit more and perhaps site some opposition to your position on your topic.

Cynthia J.: Race and Ethnicity online, representations in cyberspace
I'm surprised nobody else has touched this topic, so you have major props for trying to tackle it! I like your examples of ethnic magazines extending themselves online and trying to draw in minority groups to even the playing field of white/male dominance. I don't have any great advice other than good luck. I would be interested to read your final paper. Great topic.

Alright, folks. Wish I had more for you but I'm all blogged out. Good luck on your papers and thanks for sharing a challenging and great semester with me!

Presentations 4/22

2010-04-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

Michelle: Human Computer Interaction

Interesting topic - User friendly interfaces and designs of computers are helping creating a seamless transition from the real to the virtual space.

I like the idea of building stronger employee relationships within companies by using Second Life or something like it for meetings etc. I felt a little weirded out thinking that one day I could be sitting in an office having a meeting virtual avatar to virtual avatar and how I might forget to perceive that other person (who is possibly on the other side of the world) and never REALLY feel connected because I don't know what they really look like. Okay, a bit of a tangent but you get the idea. I wasn't really clear on your thesis bc I couldn't get my laptop up and running fast enough, but your examples were good in showing the transition from real to virtual to real.

Brittany Bogenreif: Mobile location based advertising

Although I can see (from your thorough researched examples) of new media advertising becoming more and more prevalent, I have to agree with others that I for one would not like to receive that advertising on my cellphone. It's bad enough that I get it in snail mail and in my email in box and website pop-ups and...well, you get the idea. I think pointing out the negatives of mobile location based advertising could really strengthen your argument.

Mark Belben: World of Warcraft – the cost of access

Although I was able to follow your presentation and reasoning well despite not being very savvy on the WoW stuff, I'm a little confused as to what your actual argument is. You have a lot of supporting evidence for why Blizzard shouldn't (or shouldn't have) changed the overall community feel of the game, but you might want to consider elaborating a bit more on why 3rd party companies are benefiting from Blizzard's draw back and Blizzard might do to gain a little bit of credibility back?? Do you want guild/community back? Is there something else that could be done to bring back that "learning" feeling? (ha! that sounds funny!)

Kris M.: A growing Digital Divide

I think you make a very good point in saying how the digital divide will still exist but by way of fragmented community. It never occurred to me that this could be the case. In my mind's eye it made sense that fragmented community and identity wouldn't be so much an issue if the access gap was bridged. You had some very good examples and I think you're on your way to a great paper.

Tues. presentations

2010-04-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

Mark M. aka Quiet Mark: Online enabled environmental activism

Yes, yes, yes. It's good to see this happening - online environmental activism, that is. I liked the Ecosnoop app concept. It would be cool to see if you can find more examples of apps or sites like this that promote environmental activism. I think it would be a great focus for your paper to explore this avenue and to further compare/contrast how environmental activism has changed in light of new technologies available. (ok, maybe not compare/contrast wholly but make an argument how apps like Ecosnoop are the new progressive means of getting people involved??) In any case, your topic is original and very interesting.

Sarah: Presenting yourself differently in cyberspace vs. real world

I think you have some really good research going and I like that you have polled people in our class to back up your topic. As Julie mentioned, I think it would be interesting to compare/contrast the differences between how one conducts themselves on chatroulette vs. FB/MySpace in regards to the (lack of) digital tracing through chatroulette.

Cassie L.: Social Networking sites in the classroom

You definitely have something here. Social networking is changing the face of education and if used in the way you described, it can really help young people make learning more collaborative and interactive, but hopefully help mold them into people who are aware of the risks and rewards of Internet usage/social media etiquette. The only concern I had when listening to your presentation is a little bit of the digital divide. Katie recently talked about bridging the gap as computers are becoming more available in schools and public libraries, but to really make something like blogging effective for students and teachers, access to a computer/Internet is clutch.

Presentations Round 2

2010-04-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Katie Shaw: Digital divide in low income schools and bridging the gap between knowledge and access

I really liked the idea of presenting your paper as a proposal to bridging the digital divide gap between access and information knowledge. I have read a lot of material pointing towards technology and its effects on learning. Children today are queued to be literate powerhouses with the tools that technology provides. Assertively addressing this issue in our schools with teachers and administrators, students and parents and even our communities needs collective support and encouragement. The benefits to everyone is enormous.

Beau Yancy: Gaming…The final frontier

Great presentation Beau! It’s easy to overlook how much gaming in any form has been incorporated into our everyday lives, even for someone like me who doesn’t do much gaming in the video gaming sense. Ubiquitous computing puts various gaming skills into action. I think you’re right in saying that technology feeds off of the gaming community. What was once considered an isolating and non-productive past time has become a multi-million dollar industry with a means to a creative end. There has been extensive research how gaming actually helps with various learning and teaching aspects. The benefits continue to multiply as gaming theories and components are finding their way into areas of education and medicine. I liked your DaVinci example and I have seen other examples of how aspects of gaming are helping young surgeons succeed at new robotics in surgery.

James Cavanaugh: Gaming

I really liked your correlation between the blind and Braille/gaming and (3D) learning. Games are proving to be useful in developing new areas of the brain, how we learn and how that ties into our community and cultural understanding of gaming. The attitudes that teachers and school administrators have towards the effects of gaming is beginning to shift and I think you could find tons of information on this.

Hans Wellenbrock: Social networks bridging the chasm

Wow Hans…you look just like your Granddad, only whiter! You had some really good ideas in your presentation but I really felt like the connection between you and your grandparents was a great example of how the generational gap in the digital divide could be bridged. I know my grandparents have computers and cell phones, but I don’t know their extent of use, if it’s any more of a pastime to them or just another gadget to log into occasionally. (We still only talk on the phone even though my grandma has a FB page.) Maybe focusing on that aspect of social networking/bridging the gap is the way to go? Great presentation though!

Spencer Towne: Do games generate better soldiers?

Wow! What a great presentation. Since I’m not much of a gamer I cannot fully relate to the immersion that takes place when engaged in any video game, but I think you have a great topic that holds a lot of weight. It never occurred to me that the military might possibly make use of the gaming community for possible recruitments and how gaming might affect training. That is to say, I have no doubts that simulation programs are available and used in military training but to what extent and to what effects? You made some very good points about potential risks and consequences and I think you have the makings for a very good paper.

Blog #11: Presentations Rd. 1

2010-04-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

I know it was a little nerve-wracking for the first group of presenters yesterday, but they all did a great job and have some interesting topics to discuss. I’m not really sure what to blog but I’ll give it my best shot.

Lorena S.: Internet censorship in China
Ever since the whole Google thing with China there has been much interest and debate about internet censorship. Lorena posed some very good questions about Internet censorship that Chinese citizens face. The idea that the Internet is censored on governmental and private levels is a little mindblowing. As Americans it’s easy to see how we can take our freedoms for granted. We have access to any amount of sites and information we choose to seek out, regardless if there is a certain amount of censorship. But for Chinese citizens, everything is limited; everything is taboo. Without effective change censorship could possibly have global effects on the digital divide.

Sheila N.: Traditional gender roles found in meatspace are reinforced and perpetuated in social networking sites FB, MySpace, StarDoll
The most interesting aspect of Sheila’s presentation (as discussed in class) was Club Penguin’s genderless social site for kids and how participants enforce their own gender roles by making a shout out to others. (“Say ‘I’ if you’re a boy!) I had also been aware of the StarDoll site, but think that Club Penguin provides a wonderful platform for further exploring her topic. Their purpose in providing a genderless site and getting gender filtering from participants was surprising. Are there more sites like Club Penguin? Are other sites like Whyville applicable to how gender is further perpetuated in online & in meatspace?

Maurice S.: Modern cell phones and connection to cyberspace are closing digital divide but is changing how agriculture is done in rural America.

Very interesting topic Maurice. It never occurred to me how rural citizens are affected by the digital divide. Perhaps it's bc I don't have to worry if I have access or not. Knowing that mobile technology not only helps farmers save time as well as money is huge! With the way today's economy is (even on a global scale) having the edge on weather patterns can make or break a farmer and their livelihood. It's a great example of how mobile technology is changing the way many businesses are done, especially from a rural perspective. I especially liked the example you used of rural African farmers gaining an edge at market bc of mobile technology.

Corrinda L: Education thru gaming
Can children thru gaming: what do or don’t they learn? My son isn't really into video games yet but does have a fascination with computers. It will be interesting to see how my son responds to a site like Funbrain.com and if he'll be fascinated enough between the content of the site and using the computer to stick with it. (He's only 3 after all)
I have been inundated with information concerning the importance of reading to and with my child since before he was born. I am constantly questioning if I'm doing this enough. I think kids are indeed changing the face of learning and since you're an educator you get to experience first hand some ways that gaming is helping children learn. You have a very good topic and I would be interested to know the conclusions you come to in your paper.

Kathleen C.: Old school vs Internet changing the way we see politics
I think you have a very good foundation for your topic but I got the feeling it was more of a report rather than an argument. I don't have a strong suggestion on how to pose an argument for this paper, but exploring how the Internet has really changed the way politicians are reaching out and relating to their constituents is very interesting. Voting in an African-American president was no doubt a landmark in American history, but his approach in using blogs and social media to relate and communicate with American citizens put politics in a new realm. I liked your comment about politics being a marketing campaign. I think it's always kinda been a marketing campaign but again, the Internet changes how it's done. It also leaves politicians in a vulnerable position; they are putting themselves in the hot seat for tight public scrutiny. Will the Internet make politicians more honest then? Hmmm...

Shirky Part 1: It takes a global village to find a phone

2010-04-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

Global village meets Internet activism. I don't think I would have even considered going through the lengths that Evan took to track down a cellphone. Granted today's smart phones are probably worth the trouble (if you don't have the nifty insurance offered by your provider for replacement) but the real issue here is the building of community and activism through the Internet. The expert group I participated in was social media and Shirky's first chapter is a mirror of social media and Internet activism at work. Shirky wrote that, "Group action gives human society its particular character, and anything that changes the way groups get things done will affect society as a whole." (Shirky 23) I'm willing to bet that we all agree this statement to be true. What was once considered complacency in the realm of social or political activism has turned into a sort of aggressive activism in light of social media. Shirky points out that although the tools (digital technology/social media) provided the space, it was the message that inspired interest and, even grander, confidence. The notion that the Internet can inspire confidence is monumental for someone (anyone) who has ever felt that their feelings or opinions didn't amount to a hill of beans because, as we've begun to learn, there are others out there willing to listen, to relate, and to encourage us all.

Blog #10: Break me off a piece of that Killer bar!

2010-04-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

I recently worked on a presentation project with a fellow classmate (Lorena S.) about social media for another class. In researching for our piece of the pie, Lorena showed me a video that parodied a Nestlé KitKat commercial released by the environmental group Greenpeace. Greenpeace is an organization that has been around since 1971. "We exist to expose environmental criminals, and to challenge government and corporations when they fail to live up to their mandate to safeguard our environment and our future." Living up to their promise to be a voice for the environment and the earth, Greenpeace launched a campaign (including an incorporated logo replacing "KitKat" with "Killer") pushing the Nestlé food corporation to end ties to the Sinar Mas Group (the largest producer of palm oil) in Indonesia and the destruction of the rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands. Palm oil is used in products like chocolate, bread, margarine, cosmetics and the production of biodiesel. As a member of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Nestlé is just one of the companies that has made a commitment to finding alternative ways to making palm oil more sustainable. Although Nestlé has denied that they do business with the Sinar Mas Group, Greenpeace released a report entitled "Caught Red-Handed" revealing information (with over 70 entries as sources of evidence) about Nestlé's association with the group. Sumatran rainforests are home to endangered orangutans. Because these rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands are being leveled to make way for palm oil plantations, orangutans are forced to live off young palm trees for sustenance. This conflict of interest puts them at a larger risk of extinction.

The reason I chose to use Greenpeace vs Nestlé is because it was the video Greenpeace released via YouTube to begin their campaign. We have talked extensively about the impact social media has had on how we communicate in today's digitally connected world. I can't think of a better or more recent example of social media aiding in political activism than this. Because their parody commercial went viral when it hit YouTube, Nestlé has felt the rippling effects of Internet political activism at its best; not to mention feeling the effects on their Facebook page as well. Nestlé's first response began with asking YouTube to pull the commercial citing copyright infringement in hopes of silencing Greenpeace. But it was too late. As you probably know, once a video goes viral there's no way to keep it under wraps. Greenpeace re-posted the video anyway on Vimeo.com and used Twitter to get the word out that the video was back up. On Nestlé's end the response on their Facebook page from consumers was astounding. They currently have over 96,000 friends and the number continues to grow. They have made several postings in the last few days in response to all the negative hype surrounding the Greenpeace video and maintains their commitment to used certified sustainable palm oil by 2015 and posted comments saying, "We care and will continue to pressure our suppliers to eliminate any sources of palm oil which are related to rainforest destruction. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/nestlepalmoil."

Although Greenpeace has been around long before the Internet and social media, using these tools to their advantage and is proof that social media gives even the most complacent of activists a chance to voice an opinion from the comfort of their homes. It's unfortunate for Nestlé that Internet political activism has changed the way people stand up for the rights of the earth and all it's creatures, but I guess that's just the way the KitKat breaks.

Blog #9: Social Media and the laws of cyberspace

2010-03-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Ubiquitous computing has played a dominant force in how we access the Internet and popular social media. However, popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and personal blogs lack the governing tools to prevent online assaults and defamation of character. Moreover, personal representation in the virtual world can be compromised and have long-term implications that transfers over into our physical world/life. Legal issues surrounding privacy protection and domain regulation in online spaces is still in its infancy. Because of this a push for governing laws over the legalities of cyberspace has escalated as more and more cases of copyright infringement, libel or defamation of character and cyberbullying or cyberstalking are finding their way into courtrooms. I intend to argue that although there are a growing number of court cases supporting why laws governing Internet usage and social media sites should be revised and/or enacted, the borderless Internet and absence of transparency makes regulation and enforcement the greatest obstacle to overcome on a global scale.

Annotations and citations:
Azriel, Joshua N. "Social Networking As A Communications Weapon to Harm Victims: Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter Demonstrate A Need to Amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act." The John Marshall Journal of Computer & Information Law 415th ser. 26.J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. (2009): 1-15. Print.

In this article the author discusses how social media sites, specifically Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have the potential to generate content that can be libel or defamatory by private users. Azriel cites that these social media sites use "network neutrality and intermediary liability" as keys to protecting freedom of speech. However, because ISPs and users are still protected under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, he argues that Congress should amend the law to hold people accountable for libel and defamatory information made on social media sites. Furthermore, as more and more cases find their way into courtrooms, amending the law would hold individuals responsible for comments made and “subject to prosecution." Most sites (ie. Facebook and Twitter) enact Good Samaritan provisions in an effort to protect users from being held accountable for any libel/defamatory remarks they post about other users. I plan to use this article as support why regulation of Internet posting should be enacted.

Bell, David, and Barbara M. Kennedy. "Digital Networks and the State." The Cybercultures Reader. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2007. 582-93. Print.

This article was part of my inspiration for writing this paper. In this article Sassen raises questions revolving around privately owned digital networks and spaces considered “public” and the possibilities of government regulation of the Internet. I want to specifically focus on the idea of Internet transparency and the fact that there is a growing concern for “a more organized and accountable system” to be in place. Debate about the Internet and government regulation continues to circulate as disagreement about enforcing regulatory measures ensues. Can government regulation be enforced? This portion of Sassen’s article will be useful in exploring the question of Internet regulation on a global scale.

Dardick, Glenn S.; La Roche, Claire R.; and Flanigan, Mary A., "BLOGS: ANTI-FORENSICS and COUNTER ANTI-FORENSICS" (2007). Australian Digital Forensics Conference. Paper 21. .

This article focuses mainly on blogging and its popular use for communication, mainly as a platform for posting personal opinion without regard to the effects their posts can have. Although blogging is considered to be a form of freedom of speech, Glenn Dardick, Claire LaRoche, and Mary Flanigan argue that blogging “is by definition a public activity and as such there should be no reasonable expectation of privacy.” Furthermore, they argue that a user can take measures to hide their identity, but if defamatory or libel remarks are made that can violate other laws in place in meatspace, it becomes necessary to investigate and take measures to uncover identifying information, called counter anti-forensics. Specifically they comment on “stylometrics and author attribution” as a means of uncovering a bloggers identity in cases of cyberbullying or cyberstalking. Although there is limited information in this article, it provides a basis of comparison for questioning why, if at all, certain methods should be used to uncover identity.

Dibbell, Julian. "A Rape in Cyberspace." Julian Dibbell dot com. 1998 Julian Dibbell, Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

Although Julian Dibbell’s article primarily focuses on Internet MUD/MOO communities and the case of a Mr. Bungle infiltrating this such a community and essentially engaging in a sort of cyberrape of community members. Because something of this nature had never happened before, it led community members to question and debate how a situation like this should be dealt with. What should the implications be? How did this affect members of the community in their offline lives and what could or should be done to prevent this from happening again. Dibbell’s article, although written almost 17 years ago, still stands on solid ground as sexual harassment/predation, cyberbullying/stalking and online identity anonymity continues to be a prevalent issue today. This article is part of the foundation of why I choose to explore online social media sites and the laws or would be laws to protect its users.

Gross, Ralph, Alessandro Acquisiti, and H. John Heinz III. "Information Revelation and Privacy in Online Social Networks." Proceedings of the 2005 ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society. Workshop On Privacy In The Electronic Society, Alexandria. ACM: Association for Computing Machinery, Nov. 2005. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

Ralph Gross, Alessandro Acquisti and H. John Heinz's article focuses on a study of 4,000 Carnegie Mellon University students, their use of popular social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and LinkedIn, the amount of personal information freely given while using these sites and the privacy implications associated with it. This article proved to be very interesting in that it explores the ambivalent attitude behind why people are comfortable sharing personal information despite privacy risks and the risks associated with it. They also evaluate usage of wide variety of social media sites which will be useful for constructing this paper.

I have many other citations taken from websites as supporting evidence to this paper.

Blog #8: Revisited

2010-03-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ok. I hope this is a bit more cohesive and gives me a better vantage point for suggestion and comments:

In the physical world (aka meatspace) females are objectified in a number of ways. Young girls are bombarded with images and stereotypes of what being female should look like. From movies/t.v, magazines, and music videos women are objectified as sexy or sexual beings; more objects of desire rather than intellectual and strong beings. We see this same kind of objectification perpetuated in virtual spaces as well which further reinforces gender inequality in cyberspace. Because of this reinforcement in meatspace and in virtual spaces the movement for gender equality continues to run into barriers. Does the ubiquity of social media reinforce gender inequality or does it provide a platform for reform? I would like to explore and argue that virtual spaces, although providing a foundation for change and reform, still reinforces gender inequality that we encounter in meatspace.

I am open to suggestions, comments and any resources you might offer to this subject! :)

Blog #8: Proposal for final paper

2010-03-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

With spring break just looming a very short hour away, I think it's fair to say that formulating an intelligent thought for this proposal is a little bit of a stretch. Although I have been thinking about the substance for my final paper for a couple of weeks, it's been on the back burner this week due to midterm deadlines.

The short of it is that I'd like to do something concerning cyberfeminism. (Is that a shocker? Lol) I'd like to continue to investigate what cyberfeminism is, who are the most prominent or leading figures in the cyberfeminism movement and how it is impacting the digital and technological world.

In another class I had done a presentation on Cornelia Sollfrank, a cyberfeminist widely known in the art world for her net art project Female Extension. This particular project was in response to the gender biases in the art world, but she (as well as many others) have done other works in the name of cyberfeminism.

My initial research brings up one recurring point: cyberfeminism isn't really officially defined and putting theory into practice finds obstacles of its own.

I am open to suggestion about this subject.

Rehak: Mapping the Bit Girl

2010-02-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

I am not a gamer. In fact, I can confidently say that the video I've most played is Galaga during lunch at the Pizza Hut across the street from my high school. For $2.50 I could buy a slice of pepperoni pizza, a 12oz can of Coke and play Galaga as long as I could stretch my $0.25 out. It's an understatement to say gaming has changed dramatically since my short lived Galaga days. I am not completely unaware of what's out there, but I am definitely not experienced. I tried my hand a couple of times at playing Tomb Raider when it first came out, but was easily frustrated at my lack of coordination and manipulation of the hand controller (is that what it's called?). But I readily remember my fascination with seeing a game like Tomb Raider with a femme fatale like Lara Croft. From a female perspective, I can only slightly relate to Schleiner's "Lara as Positive Role Model" because I had never heard of a game whose primary character was a woman: Intelligent, Boobalicious Glamazon with Weapons...what's not to like? It would be kick ass to be a deadly woman of Lara's proportions, but it's still rather unrealistic. Both Rehak and Schleiner make a clear case for Lara's conception as that of the heterosexual male fantasy.

"Male fans, however, find in Croft's semiotic territory fertile ground to extend their fetishistic involvement. Croft's followers are eager to sexualize her through the creation of erotic pictures and paratexts...'The absence of any romantic or sexual intrigue within the game narrative potentially leaves her sexuality open to conjectural appropriation on the part of the players"(pg 170)

Seriously. We have seen an ever so slightly recurring role of women as "objects" as opposed to women as "subjects" in our readings and discussions of the digital world. Our discussion in Thursday's class reiterates that point bc of the patriarchal society we live in. Rehak pointed out that of the women out there that enjoy gaming, Tomb Raider is not on the top of their list. Why? Because Lara was designed for men by men. Everything about Lara poises her as an object of desire - for men. From her unrealistic anatomical make-up to the gamers ability to "control" her. I'm not trying to say that men are pigs and they shouldn't enjoy Lara. Do what you gotta do. But I'm no extreme feminist either. Lara is a fantasy. Her fan base and the extremes they go through to build up her complex backstory and dress their girlfriends in Lara-esque style is remarkable. Not to mention the game plug-in and patch work to create "Nude Raider". "The digital star is the location on which fantasies of desire and control are projected; they embody the fears, desires, and excess of our culture in the form of obnoxiously sexualized female stars." (pg 171).

I guess I never considered how Lara Croft could be so idolized, fandomized and fantasized about, but I think alot of that has to do with the fact that I cannot be counted as one that belongs to the gaming community. However, after reading Rehak's article, I was a bit in awe to the extremes by which fans of an avatar would go to have their Lara widely appropriated and realized. It doesn't surprise me that Lara lives in the realm of the male pornographic fantasy. I guess men will get their jollies however they can.

Tapscott Pt. 3: Government and social interaction

2010-02-25T20:45:00.001-08:00

I like the idea of Democracy 2.0. The concept has great potential, given that citizens engage in “reasoned opinions”. Just as Gore made claim that television changed the way the government and its citizens engage in conversation, the Internet pushes participation in a positive direction where citizens can really converse again through digital media. Allowing for interaction in politics can change democracy in our country, truly making it democratic…where voices and opinions are heard and exchanged. But the collaboration has to come from both sides of the spectrum. Politicians need to engage as well and encourage their constituents to truly be the voice behind the representation. I know that politics is a touchy subject and Tapscott is clear in pointing out that politician need to gain and maintain trust from citizens. “Trust depends on transparency.” “Governments can sit back and wait for Net Geners to force them to become more transparent, or they can be active participants in shaping the flow of communications to citizens.” (pg267) I really think this could not be more true. We have the tools, we have the technology; we (politicians and citizens) need to cooperate and collaborate and work towards the greater good. Net Geners are poised to lead the charge.

Blog #6: Sherry Turkle - Robotics and cybercompanionship

2010-02-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/pdfsforstwebpage/ST_Relational%20Artifacts.pdf

Sherry Turkle: Relational Artifacts with children and elders: the complexities of cybercompanionship

Relational artifacts: “…artifacts that present themselves as having ‘states of mind’ for which an understanding of those states enriches human encounters with them.” (pg 1) aka sociable robots aka My Real Baby, Furby, Aibo, Paro, Kismet and Cog.

As the title would imply, this is an article about a comparative study of robots (relational artifacts) and the complex relationships formed with them by children and elders, specifically elders in a nursing home. In approaching this study, researched focused on two ideas:

1. Robots as Rorschach – how the relationship with robots has an effect on people emotionally and cognitively and how individuals use that relationship to express things about themselves. (psychological)
and
2. Robot as an evocative object – how the relationship with the robot lends focus to questions of “aliveness” and “about the roles of thought and feeling in defining human uniqueness.” (pg 1) (philosophical)

Previous studies done in the 1980’s found that technological objects like Speak and Spell and Merlin were primarily presented to children for cognitive use, whereas, when presented with a relational artifact, children were compelled (bc of the nature of the object: ie Furby, Aibo, or My Real Baby) to nurture it or be nurtured. There was a shift from a more cognitive understanding and use of the object to an emotional or affective one. The same held true for elders. “For robotics, nurturance is the new ‘killer app’. We connect to what we nurture.” (pg 3)

In the past studies have shown that animals have calming effects for people. Researchers were looking to see if seniors would get similar benefits with Aibo (dog)and Paro (baby harp seal) in that they might help lower stress and anxiety. Although the research done with elders found comparable effects, children were found to treat it (Aibo) like they would a stuffed animal but respond to it as if it were a real dog.

Methods of study focused on observation and conversation in natural settings: how does the technology have bearing on their personalities, life history and cognitive style? Although it was first thought that there would be a clear distinction between the robots as Rorschach and as evocative objects, it was found that the two were actually entwined. Children and elders were forming philosophical attachments that weren’t separated from their emotional needs. As previously noted, cast studies revolved around children and elders. I broke these down so you could get a better idea of the kinds of results found and see the correlations between the psychological and philosophical effects they had on the children and seniors.

Case studies with children:
Orelia (10 yrs) takes home an Aibo. Orelia makes clear distinctions about the Aibo; it is a robot and incapable of love. She would prefer a real dog because unlike the Aibo a real dog has a brain and a heart and can clearly love her, whereas Aibo has the potential to be programmed to love, but it wouldn’t be real because it is a robot. Researchers found that her younger brother had more of a connection to the Aibo as if it could be capable of emotional reciprocation…or at least he questioned if it is capable of that. Orelia felt the robot could not be trusted bc of its lack of real feeling and memory. Researchers found that Orelia's concept and lack of feeling towards the Aibo was a correlation with her relationship with her mother; cold and ungiving.

Melanie, also 10 yrs old, had a much different relationship with her temporary custody of Aibo and a My Real Baby. Researchers found that Melanie formed an emotional attachment to these robots choosing to nurture them and in return believed they loved her back. For her, they filled a void in her life that was neglected by her parents, who worked alot and left her and her sibling primarily with babysitters and nannies. This has a profound effect on her relationship with the Aibo and MRB (which she named Sophie). By nurturing and loving them, it fulfilled a void in her life that she needed. To her, Aibo and Sophie were almost real, with feelings and consciousness of Melanie's tender care of them.

Jimmy is a 1st grader with a serious illness. Researchers found that Jimmy approached the Aibo as if it were real; having consciousness and emotions. He compares the Aibo with his real dog, Sam, finding that Aibo is the better dog because it can do things that Sam cannot (like fetch or kick a ball). To Jimmy, Aibo is immortal and invincible, unable to get sick and/or die, which is something Jimmy wishes for himself. “Jimmy’s emotional connection to the medical technology that keeps him alive helps to explain his identification with Aibo and his philosophical position that robots, too, have a ‘kind of life’.” (pg 8)

Case study with seniors:

Jonathan is a 74 year old man with no family. He was given a My Real Baby. Like Orelia, Jonathan approached the relational artifact from more of an analytical perspective. He was fascinated with the way it worked (like an engineer) but made a clear delineation between real and robotic. Although MRB was just another object to him, Jonathan felt that the real benefit was in his ability to talk to MRB in a way he could not with real people. From a therapeutic perspective, Jonathan felt he could open up more to MRB because it would not judge or ridicule him about personal thoughts or events in his life. Psychologically this would prove to be very beneficial, giving Jonathan an opportunity to find closure or at least comfort in being able to discuss very private matters. However, at the end of the day, Jonathan still saw MRB as an object, incapable of love and emotions. At night he would turn it off and put it away in the closet. To him, it was a fascinating toy.

Andy, on the other hand, viewed MRB like Melanie did. Similar to Jonathan, Andy found comfort in being able to talk to MRB, but he established an emotional connection to it; wanting to nurture and love it and felt that in a way, it would love him back. He was tender and protective of MRB.

TwendyOne

Researchers found that, “Relational artifacts, as objects between the living and not living (Ramey, 2005) may have special resonance for their frail nursing home playmates. The residents themselves experience their existence in the home as a placement on the boundary between their own lives and their deaths. Like relational artifacts, they are luminal creatures.” (pg 13)

Unlike MRB, Furby, Aibo and Paro, MIT robots Kismet and Cog both have the ability to respond to “I love you” by saying “I love you.” This has led to questions of the level of authenticity we might desire or require from technology. What kind of bearing will relational artifacts have on children and elders? Is it healthy to allow this kind of authentic technology with children? What kinds of relationships are appropriate for children and elders to have with relational artifacts? These are all very good questions, an as technology continues to evolve, I think it's something we should all ask ourselves. We've seen movies like iRobot and have fabricated ideas of what technology could one day present to us. It will be interesting to see what really happens. Bottom line, I personally don't feel like a robot could ever take the place of human affection and attention. I wish Sherry Turkle and her entourage of researchers had studied seniors from a retirement community as opposed to a nursing home. (or at least include retirement communities in their studies). I wonder if the results would have been different.

Taspcott Pts 1 & 2

2010-02-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

(Forgive the lateness of Tapscott Part 1.)
Part I: It's always interesting to compare Baby Boomers, Gen Xers/Y's, and today's Net Geners. I myself fall under the Generation X category but know that from a technological and digital level, I'm on the tail end of immersion. However, when I read about Net Geners and all they information and media they consume, it's truly amazing. "It's not surprising that Net Geners display such tolerance and even wisdom, compared to previous generations. They have been exposed to a ton of scientific, medical, and other pertinent information that wasn't available to their parents."(pg 84) Tapscott further points out that because Net Geners have access to this unlimited information they have made them advocates of freedom, customization, scutiny, honesty, integrity, collaboration, innovation...well, you get the idea. They're actively changing our world. I often wonder what life will be like 10 years from now. I'm a full time student studying digital technology and culture; I am astounded by the information out there and how our digitally diverse world continues to evolve. It makes me wonder what life will be like when my 3 year old is a full blown active member of the digital world. What will the technology be like for him? What will he be able to teach me one day? What and how will his generation change the world? I've been asking myself these and similar questions a lot lately. I'm curious what the answers will be.

Part II: Net Generation Norms and the transformation of work
I really enjoyed reading this section of our reading. Tapscott almost made work sound fantastical and utopian, but sweet, sweet, sweet! Several years ago, I worked for Apple Computer. It was a call center in Austin and I basically did data entry for K-12 schools - sales support. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it was one of the most relaxed working environments I'd ever been in. (Just look at Steve Jobs, Mr. Blue Jeans and T-shirt) But the idea that work environments are moving away from the fluorescent lit cubicles in big buildings; uptight and authority driven. The idea that those conditions could change: the freedom to work when and where we want, to collaborate and find new innovative ways to customize our work and business processes, to try new things/jobs, and that we can scrutinize what companies to work for. Net Geners want all these things and more, with the icing being that they (we) can have fun and be creative in our work. I think one of the most difficult things in life is finding something you love to do - specifically to make a living. I had my first job at 15 working at a christian bookstore. Since then I've tried a lot of diverse jobs but haven't found something that I'm truly passionate about. But when I think of what a job and life could be with the freedom to work under relaxed, fun and creative conditions and schedule hours that allow me to make time for my family...well, the idea is shear nirvana.

Nakamura Chapter 5: Measuring Race on the Internet

2010-02-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

One of the last few comments Nakamura made near the end of her Introduction revolved around the explosion in racial and ethnic idently content on the Web: African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans are the fast growing groups of Web users,..."(pg 34). She really expands on this thought on page 180, stating, "The most important development in terms of Internet users between 2000 and 2005 is the radical increase in the number of women and ethnic and racial minorities online." Although surveys of Internet use had a tendency not to focus on race, the opposite is beginning to take place. In the past, the Internet was seen primarily as being dominated by white males, however we are beginning to see a shift in numbers. What I found most interesting about the numbers wasn't that African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics were using the Internet more (as in parity to whites) but rather the content for which they were using the Internet. Nakamura focuses on the Pew Foundation's Internet usage report. In this report Internet usage is broken down into categories: "Fun", "Information Seeking", "Major Life Activities", and "Transactions". Of these categories, the Pew report found that majority of racial minorities spent their time doing things that fell under the "Fun" category as opposed to whites. It was implied that whites perhaps spend their time more on things like checking the weather or doing some online investing etc. However, Nakamura is quick to point out that it's rather unfair to assume what racial minorities are doing on the Web is less important than whites. Who decides what qualifies as "fun", "information seeking" or a "major life activity"?

It just so happens that as I sat down to write this blog last night, an episode of South Park came on Comedy Central. It was a re-run but ironically the very episode that had come to mind when I read Chapter 5. Here Comes The Neighborhood: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103583

I really only want you to watch the first minute, in which Token (the only black kid in South Park) does his class project using his laptop and dad's video projector. It just seemed like a funny coincidence that I should be reading about racial minorities and the Internet and see this South Park episode...

But I digress, this isn't about South Park but how Nakamura has made careful note of Internet (and computer) usage by minorities (including women) over the last decade and that the digital divide isn't just about the have's and have not's but about perception of what digitally divides us when we use the Internet. What is the content? How do different ethnic groups compare to each other? Why is it that what whites are doing is ranked with more genuine importance than racial minorities?

Blog #5: G-Force

2010-02-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

I’m a little nervous about this blog assignment. As Julie so plainly pointed out, Nakamura makes several important arguments about race and the networked interfaces. This might sound like a rather lame excuse, but it’s been a LONG time since I’ve had the chance to sit down and watch a movie. However, most recently I have had the enormous pleasure of watching mostly children’s movies with my 3 year old. The movie I decided to use as a basis for comparison for this assignment is called G-Force, a kids flick.

Okay, I am already afraid of what you’re thinking. Believe me I think I’m stretching a bit here, but I’m going to give it my best shot. Nakamura writes about random access and the iPod advertisement campaign (pages 111-113). It is posited (ha ha Nakamura!) that the iPod’s random-access technology (ie “shuffle” feature lets the machine “randomly” choose what to play) and a visual ad campaign produces “racialized bodies that correspond to specific typed genres of music,” and, “The notion that one can click through musical genres using software like Apple’s iTunes and download music to correspond to the omnipresent racialzed bodies in the ad links together the volitional mobility of the interfaced music shop with that of the consumer of the hipness and coolness of black expressive culture itself.” (p112) She points out that, as in The Matrix trilogy, the dancing silhouettes are a paradox “full of racialized color” and are/have signifiers of “Afros” in the phenol/stereo/typical ways you and I have come to recognize. This Afro-futuristic style (as in The Matrix) is a signifier of “cool.” She gives examples from Claudia Springer and Donnell Alexander illustrating how black characters and/or black people in general set the standard for cool. Both agree that black “cool” represents style and flair. By using this black “cool” theme in their ads, Apple has unwittingly separated blackness from other identities and races. “While digital music may operate under the logic of ‘random access,’ users create paths and narratives through exercising their desires that are far from random but rather produce predictable configurations of bodies, types, and images.” (pg 113)

Alrighty then. G-Force. Again, this is a stretch. I am not so much honing in on the “random access” bit as I am the black “cool” bit. "Armed with the latest in high-tech spy equipment, and with the F.B.I. on their tails, the fur flies as they race against the clock to save the world.” The main characters in this film are Darwin, Blaster, Juarez, and Hurley. Darwin (Sam Rockwell, a “white” guy) is our hero, saving the day and keeping his team together. Blaster (Tracy Morgan) is our “cool” black character; a “need for speed” action junkie and weapons expert with hip-hop flair and the hots for Juarez (Penelope Cruz). Juarez is the token female, so to speak; she’s the sophisticated kick ass martial arts diva playing hard to get. Hurley (Jon Favreau) is the dopey pet shop escapee turned side kick to Darwin who sorta helps save the day…well, they all help, but you know what I mean.

I think this movie represents everything stereotypical in relation to race, identity, and elitist genres. Blaster and Juarez are clearly the token ethinic representation needed for showing kids acceptance and diversification of "color." As with most stereotypical movies, Darwin is the team leader; the "white" guy and represents the glue that holds it all together while his back-up (always playing second) are the ethnic characters. Although all characters are highly trained and techies of every state-of-the-art digital media, it is Darwin who ends up being the hostess with the mostess: computer savvy and hi-tech inventor. This ties in with another one of the Nakamuras's many arguments about marginal black figures being in the background of white interface users. "Marginal blackness works to make whiteness even whiter by contrast: a necessary act in the contest of globalization, where transculturation threatens to fatally blur racial lines." (pg 108) Blaster and Juarez both kinda represent the "metaphor of the black servant to white interface users..." (pg 108) Blaster specifically is our link to the black "cool" (duh.)but more than that, he also represents the black servant; smart, strong, sassy, but second to Darwin.

Okay. That's the best I got today. I know it could be a stronger argument and comparison, but seeing how I've been working on this for blog all day and I'm late submitting it, I'll just stop here and hope for the best. Nakamura had a lot to say in this chapter and I was happy to read it. I learned a lot and wish I had a better example to use for this blog entry. I guess I should try to get out more...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vny3o6gLa8

A Cyborg Manifesto

2010-02-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

What a great essay! As with most of the reading assigned (or not) for this class, I didn't know what to expect when I read Donna Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century". I was astounded! I'm willing to bet that most guys might not be able to fully appreciate this, but it's rather empowering as a female to read feminist theory from a brilliant scholar and feminist like Donna Haraway. In titling her essay "A Cyborg Manifesto" Haraway calls to attention parallel theories originating with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and "The Communist Manifesto" with socialist-feminism and the feminist identity in a patriarchal world. It is a call to action.

The "cyborg" represents a metaphor for the breach of boundaries between science, technology and the socialist-feminist; a breach between animal and machine where biology and technology are so entwined you cannot tell one from the other. Haraway's metaphor of the cyborg is "an effort to contribute to socialist-feminist culture and theory in a postmodernist, non-naturalist mode and in the utopian tradition of imagining a world without gender..."(pg 2)

It is presupposed that women/females inherently or biologically have an instant connections to each other; that our identities have common ground. However, as Haraway points out, "There is nothing about being 'female' that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as 'being' female, itself a highly complex category constructed in contested sexual scientific discourses and other social practices." (pg 6) The cyborg, being neither animal or machine, is a metaphor for the hi-tech cultural restructuring of society from an organic and biological society to one of a "polymorphous information system". To illustrate her point, she charts this transition from old "Western" dualism of ideologies to the new technological networks and calls it the "informatics of domination". I would love to reproduce that list in this entry but it's pretty long and needs to be separated into two columns to make the correlations between the two.

Cyborgs are the embodiment of our disembodied females selves; disassembled and reassembled animal and machine.

"The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment. We can be responsible for machines; they do not dominate or threaten us. We are responsible for boundaries; we are they. Up till now (once upon a time), female embodiment seemed to be given, organic, necessary; and female embodiment seemed to mean skill in mothering and its metaphoric extensions. Only by being out of place could we take intense pleasure in machines, and then with excuses that this was organic activity after all, appropriate to females. Cyborgs might consider more seriously the partial, fluid, sometimes aspect of sex and sexual embodiment. Gender might not be global identity after all, even if it has profound historical breadth and depth."

Social-feminism is the dichotomy of politics and feminism. It is the embodiment of the labor of women and the roles we assume in a male-dominated or patriarchal world. We must make ourselves like cyborgs. A hybrid of animal and machine; genderless, sexless, raceless beings staking claims and calling to action our political foundations. Haraway concludes that cyborg imagery "is an imagination of a feminist speaking in tongues to strike fear into the circuits of the supersavers of the new right. It means both building and destroying machines, identities, categories, relationships, space stories. Though both are bound in the spiral dance, I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess."

http://wmst490.drkissling.com/spring2009/files/cyborg_manifesto.pdf

Captain's Blog

2010-02-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

Star date: February 4, 2010

We are in the fourth week of the semester and my head is a maelstrom of technological terms, concepts and ideas. On the first day of classes it became apparent, much to my dismay, that I would be required to keep a blog for two of my 4 classes. I am no stranger to blogs, having started one after the birth of my son. But considering I'm a DTC major, it seems pretty obvious why it was required for me to keep a new one.

I spent the better part of this week dividing my reading time between Dennis Baron's A Better Pencil and Lisa Nakamura's Digital Race. I went to bed last night with the intention of letting my thoughts about blogs, FB, MySpace, AIM icons and the like steep overnight before I sat down to compose this entry. Little did I know it would wind up haunting my dreams causing restless sleep and still no real idea of what to write.

I never considered writing to be something that was hard for me. Until now. Even though I have a FB account and periodically update my status, blogging was more of a means of communicating the milestones of my son to friends and family who were far away. Not that they aren't interested in what's going on with me, but he (my son) is what's usually going on with me. It never occurred to me to blog personal thoughts or emotions of my daily life. I've always been aware of the risks involved in a public blog, even FB status updates. I'm not dumb enough to vent about people (unless it's some random person nobody knows) or my job because...why? Does anybody really care what I think? I haven't posted an entry to my/my son's personal blog since September (shame on me). The pressure to write something intelligent on my personal blog didn't exist in the way it does for this school blog. Most of the time (including now) I feel like all I do is ramble. I write the way I talk, pouring thoughts, words and sentences as I might say them out loud in conversation. I became aware of following the "rules" of Netiquette only after a friend pointed it out to me in an email...long before I ever had a blog or FB account. They didn't do it because I was breaking the rules, but more as a way to keep me in the loop. Even then I thought it was dumb. I found email, IM, text and blogging to be impersonal compared to face-to-face interactions and it wasn't until someone told me THAT WRITING IN ALL CAPS WAS SHOUTING that I made sure not to write in with the caps lock on, even though I rarely used caps to begin with when composing emails or texts.

For the most part, blogging is sorta fun, depending on the subject matter. I can certainly appreciate the risks involved from an educational standpoint (correct spelling and grammar) and a privacy standpoint. Regardless, I can positively say that no matter who is blogging and what they're blogging about, the content can impact people in different meaningful (or meaningless) ways. We are all authors in our own right. Hooray for us!

http://www.thelaceyreport.blogspot.com
http://thumpers-hole.net/wordpress
http://cupcakeblog.com

DTC 475 Haraway Article Shout Out!

2010-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hello group. For Friday's blog assignment, I'm calling Donna Haraway's article: The Cyborg Manifesto as mine.

Thanks,

Dena.

A Better Pencil

2010-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

I don't want to sound incredulously surprised, but I have really enjoyed the assigned books for this class. It's hard to know where to begin with my thoughts on A Better Pencil, but the first thing that came to mind while reading the first few chapters revolved around the art of penmanship. I have to admit, I have a bit of a stationary fetish, or at least I did when I had time to sit down and hand write notes. I've lived here in the NW since 2002, having left all my family and closest friends behind in Austin, TX. Although my primary form of communication has always been the phone, a long time high school friend and I began snail mail correspondence almost immediately after I moved here. As life (marriage, babies, divorce, everyday stuff) would have it, we've had to stop writing and have moved to Facebook, but I miss the days of sitting down to with pen and pretty paper to write out my "how are yous" and funny little anecdotes. What a pleasure it was to open the mailbox and see her familiar handwriting on the envelope!

Nowadays things are different. Today when I open my mailbox I find bills and junk mail advertisments. Long lost are the handwritten letters that would bring the inevitable smile to my face and heart. (le sigh) I have often wondered what will become of the practice (and art) of penmanship. I remember elementary school days practicing "handwriting" both print and cursive; writing and repeating letter after letter and being graded on how well or poorly my handwriting was. When I was in high school book reports and research papers were always handwritten although using a typewriter or the ever astounding word processor were options but never required. Do they even teach handwriting to children today? Will my son know what it means to bring home 1st or 2nd grade homework that revolves around practicing his penmanship? Or will he be required to learn to type properly on a computer keyboard? At the very least I know he'll learn to write with a trusty No. 2 pencil or pen. I'm counting on it since I have vowed to have his first legible written name tranposed with permanent ink onto my skin.

I know I'm only skimming the surface on what Dennis Baron has written about in A Better Pencil, but the depth of his research and observations about writing throughout the course of time is not one to be taken lightly. Technology, as we have learned, has changed the course of writing. Did writing make people dumb, as Plato suggested? Hardly. Has the typewriter and computer altered the course of written word? Yes. However, as Dennis Baron pointed out, although the technology, ranging from clay tablets to pencils to typewriters to computers has changed the way "writing" is done, "...when the newness of the latest writing upgrade wears off, the content, as always, will have to make it on its own." (pg 15) This could not be more true.

Game day

2010-01-29T14:32:00.001-08:00

Reading Adriana de Souza e Silva’s article From Cyber to Hybrid was a lot of fun. It made me wish I lived in an urban city with public transportation as my primary source of getting around town. As much as I love my Subaru, I miss the misty, overcast days in Seattle, sitting at the bus stop waiting for the #15 to take me down to Pioneer Square for my daily almond croissant and vanilla latte at Grand Central Bakery. Once aboard and settled into the pleather seat I would sit back, relax and let the driver worry about the traffic while I perused the pages of the latest copy of the Stranger. If only I had had a 3G cell phone back then. I have never been one to play video games. My past experiences playing them seemed to end in frustration; because I suck at it. However, my interest has been piqued and I found myself wishing I could once again relieve myself of the duties of driving and let someone else take the steering wheel so I could do something else…like play a game…on my cell phone…with other people…en route to work/home/school/anywhere.

This article was intriguing on many levels. But I was most struck by de Souza e Silva’s “Hybrid spaces as social spaces” part of the article. In this section, de Souza e Silva correlates hybrid spaces as social spaces where she regards “space as a concept produced and embedded by social practices, in which the support infrastructure is composed of a network of mobile technologies.” (The Cybercultures reader, pg. 766) Furthermore, she points out that “mobile devices bring actions formerly performed in specific ‘private’ places (homes or offices with desktop computers connected via cables to the network) to public urban spaces.” (pg 767) Examples she used to illustrate this concept were that of location-based games like Botfighters and Mogi. Each of these games uses mobile technology, ie cell phone, bringing virtual communities into hybrid spaces allowing players to interact with each other capturing creatures or trading “text” fire with another player within relative proximity of each other.

The idea of being able to do this with your mobile phone is a little mind blowing. When I first read this part of the article, I was immediately reminded of a game on a friends’ Android phone called Zombie Run! However, after researching what the game entails and after today’s class discussion, I realized it wasn’t a multi-user interactive game but rather fit more into the realm of augmented reality. I was a little bummed. The concept of a location-based multi-user interactive game for my cell phone just sounds so cool! Again, it made me wish I lived in a city where I could utilize public transportation, just so I could have the opportunity to try one of these cool apps out on my own phone. What’s even more exciting about the prospect of playing location-based games via mobile technologies is the opportunity to explore a city. One example I found that is similar to Botfighter and Mogi is an Android app called JOYity.

Needless to say, aside from the fact that I enjoyed reading the de Souza e Silva's article, I wholeheartedly agree with her perspective on mobile technologies bridging the gap between our ideas of space-cyber to hybrid and it's affect on connecting us socially.

Things Fall Apart

2010-01-26T09:34:00.001-08:00

I wasn't sure what to expect when I began reading Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, but since it has been on my "books-I-want-to-read" list, I was excited at the thought of finally marking it off. I have to be honest, I frequently found myself getting caught up in the plot. However, I don't want this to sound like a book report. Okonkwo's trials and tribulations throughout the course of the story had me wondering what fate awaited him at the turn of every page. But the more I read, the more aware I became of the connections between this book and Ong's Orality and Literacy, at least in regards to the discussions we've had in class. However, the observations made didn’t revolve around literacy. Okonkwo and his clansmen were obviously an oral community.

The first recurring observation was the role speaking held within the community. It is more than the reverence for the speaking elder or priestess or tribesman of high regard, it was the ceremony of orality. Speaking seemed ceremonial in most instances either when consulting the Oracle, resolving issues put before the high council or within the communal intimacy of tribe members. This ceremonial formality seemed to give orality a reverberating quality. There was a lot of call and response between speaker and audience and reminded me of sitting in church as a kid participating in the liturgy. Likewise, the formality of even asking for a woman’s hand in marriage required fellowship first: the breaking of kola nut and drinking of palm wine; getting comfortable with your neighbor and relaxing together before business is brought to the table. Today we live in a world where such formality (fellowship) is bypassed. We want immediacy; state your case, and get on with our lives. In Okonkwo’s world, most everything was connected to the teachings and customs of the past as passed on from fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Even the rites of the priestess of the Oracle (Chielo) seemed formal and ceremonial, calling to attention the need for reverence and honor.

None of this is surprising, but further reiterates how orality has been deeply rooted with peoples across the globe, of various cultures and customs and how it has called for respect. Our class discussions in DTC 475 currently reside on virtual communities and debate of whether or not they create isolation or seek to abolish it. I am divided. Reading a book like Things Fall Apart and regarding the sense of community in the story makes me think that social face to face community creates stronger bonds and a sense of togetherness. Although we are a literate group of individuals, I am drawn more to the verbal speaking culture than the virtual culture. That’s not to say I don’t seek to evolve and find a happy medium between both real life and virtual communities, but even without written text, sometimes I take more away from a verbal conversation than I do from a book.

Blog assignment #2: Virtual Community

2010-01-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

Although there are several virtual communities I belong to, the one I will focus on is Angel. A virtual community, as defined by Michele Willson are "communities experienced through technological mediation over the Internet and possibly enhanced in the future by virtual technologies." This being the case, I choose Angel because it is a virtual community I belong to that links me solely to the other community members online through the Internet.

I am taking my third class online this semester, having taken two last semester. As part of DDP, I am linked to fellow classmates living in almost every corner of the world; some are in Tri-Cities, some in WA, some in the U.S. and still others in China, New Zealand, Great Britain etc. Our community resides in Angel since I have neither spoken to or met any of my current or previous classmates aside from commenting on their discussion posts. This holds true of the professor as well...I've neither talked to or met them aside from reading or responding to their discussion posts. As part of this community I interact not only according to the guidelines set by the professor teaching the course but through necessity to relay or receive information pertaining to the class. If we are not posting our ideas and commenting on others, we're emailing each other. This is not to say that I could not interact with these community members outside of the virtual realm. However, time, space and interest pose an issue. I choose NOT to interact with my virtual classmates outside of the Angel realm because I neither have the interest, time or resources to do so, but mostly interest. My connection to my fellow community members/classmates rests solely on the temporary but still important committment to the class. Once the class is over, I'm done. On to the next class. If I happen upon a former community member/classmate in another online class (or even 'embodied' class) then great. Maybe we'll become friends and want to meet up for a Hefe at Jackson's or a coffee at Barracuda.

The terms of entry into this particular community rests on a few things.
1. You must first be a student who has met the required entrance prerequisites (ie transcripts and application etc) paying tuition to WSU to take the online class.
2. Because of #1, this means you have to be reasonably educated and literate (one must be able to read, write and perhaps even do some critical thinking) to engage in this community.
3. Once access to this community is granted, a computer with Internet is required to participate since an online username and password are required to enter into the virtual community space.

After discussing barriers of the digital divide: access, content, literacy, pedagogy, and community it's easy to see how Angel fits into this. Access and a certain degree of literacy are a must. Community is implied since that's essentially what the access is granting you entry to; a meaningful space via Internet connecting people with a common interest. The content revolves around learning or at least the opportunity to learn something. Community interaction is usually required, but encouraged with enthusiam for community building and critical thinking. The hiccup comes with pedagogy. In my opinion, Angel is a pretty straightforward program to navigate. But I have seen posts from people who have minimal computer skills get help with navigation from fellow classmates, the professor or TA, or online Angel assistants. Does that count as pedagogy? I don't mean to dumb down any the nature of this assignment but even after our discussion on the digital divide, I think there's some gray area with how wide the divide is from person to person.

My notions of the digital divide and virtual community are being shaped and molded into a broader and diverse understanding of the technological world. Other communities that came to mind that I belong to would have included Facebook, Blogger, perhaps email? After our last class discussion, I no longer knew what to think about "community". I chose Angel because it seemed to be the most authentic of the virtual communities I belong to; virtual community as defined by Willson.

I still feel like I'm processing everything: cyberspace, digital divide, virtual community, technology...
Bring it.

Orality and Literacy Pt. 2: Was that a rhetorical question?

2010-01-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

Rhetoric as defined by Ong is the art of public speaking. But more than that, it was the 'art' of public speaking that was a product of writing. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary first definition of rhetoric is as follows: "1 : the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
3 : verbal communication" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric. What I found most interesting about Ong's description and explanation of rhetoric as it pertains to orality and literacy was: "With its agnostic heritage, rhetorical teaching assumed that the aim of more or less all discourse was to prove or disprove a point, against opposition. Developing a subject was thought of as a process of 'invention', that is, of finding in the store of arguments that others had always exploited those arguments which were applicable to your case." (Ong, pg 108-109) It's silly what the mind conjures when reading certain things. Although I can't remember the date or time, I remember the first time I heard, "that was a rhetorical question" and wondering exactly what "rhetorical" meant. I had to look it up in the dictionary (in the privacy and quiet of my room) and I remember still not understanding (keep in mind, I was just a kid when I first heard this term). As time and understanding would have it, it came to mean that despite what the question was, it found its favor with the person asking it, thereby reinforcing their point.

The interaction of rhetoric in the loci communes or commonplaces further drives the idea of home. Ong establishes both analytic (cause/effect, opposites) and cumulative (essentially formulas for speeches/writing) commonplaces as helping keep alive the orality and art of rhetoric. Regardless of its commonplace, rhetoric still found its footing in the academic world. Ong noted, however, that the exception to this was the rise of female writers in the 1600s. It is no surprise to many (if not all) of us that formal schooling for women way back when didn't revolve around subjects which lead to more male-dominate professions. It was much more common, as Ong pointed out that women more or less studied the business of domestic affairs or homemaking. Yet, women still found their way around the academic, Latin-based rhetoric of writing giving rise to the novel.

DTC 375: Orality and Literacy Pt. 1 or Homer vs. Pink Floyd

2010-01-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, it was a little daunting to hear our Prof. say," 'Orality and Literacy' is a tough read." So I began reading this book with some trepidation. However, I surprisingly found the subject matter interesting and almost a little riveting. I am currently halfway through chapter 3 but anticipate being close to finished with this book by Thursday, since I don't have a choice anyway. But I digress. This blog entry is about orality and literacy, or more appropriately, my association of Homer's epic poems with rock opera.

You might be asking yourself, "how could she possibly be associating Homer with Pink Floyd?" It was Milman Parry's discovery that "virtually ever distinctive feature of Homeric poetry is due to the economy enforced on it by oral methods of composition. These can be reconstructed by careful study of the verse itself..." (Orality and Literacy, Walter J. Ong, pg 21) That explanation turned the light bulb on in my head and Another Brick In The Wall started spinning on my mental turntable; needle on vinyl. I can remember listening to that song as a kid, the repetitious lyrics reverberating in my memory.

It's a strange correlation I guess, but as I read about mnemonic patterns, the primary oral culture, literate vs. illiterate peoples, hexameter, metric formulas and the sophistication of Homer's poems, all I could hear in my head was, "Wrong, do it again! If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!" (Note: (for those who actually listened to or watched the provided link) It's interesting to know that the poem the teacher reads from Pink's notebook are the lyrics to Money.)

Anyway, what I'm getting at is this: the orality that can be associated with Homer's Odyssey and Iliad with it's metered verse feels no different than Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall. Before written word there was only oral communication. Bards, troubadors, versifiers, minstrals, poets and songsters...their rhapsodized words committed all those stories, histories, proverbs and verses to memory. It's no wonder that early childhood education begins with nursery rhymes and quaint songs.

Blog assignment #1: Cyberspace

2010-01-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I had to read, and re-read the 10 definition intro to Michael Benedickt's "Cyberspace: First Steps." As to which one resonated with my preconceived notions of "cyberspace"...well, let's just say that given I'm not the most technical or computer driven individual, my preconceived notions didn't really amount to much. I'm willing to bet that the very first time I heard the word "cyberspace", I probably had visions of the speckled, inky vastness of space. It's fair to say that my preconceived notions of cyberspace are closely related to the internet. Both words imply an enigmatic vastness that I don't explore as extensively as I could or should. Not because I don't want to, but there always seems to be so many other things to do.

But with 10 neatly laid definitions put before me, I'd have to say that I was most drawn to not one, but two of the definitions:

"Cyberspace: A new universe, a parallel universe created and sustained by the world's computers and communication lines. A world in which the global traffic of knowledge, secrets, measurements, indicators, entertainments, and alter-human agency takes on form: sights, sounds, presences never seen on the surface of the earth blossoming in a vast electronic night."

"Cyberspace: Through its myriad, unblinking video eyes, distance places and faces, real and unreal, actual or long gone, can be summoned to presence. From vast databases that constitute the culture's deposited wealth, every document is available, every recording is playable, and every picture is viewable. Around every participant, this: a laboratory, an instrumented bridge; taking no space, a home presiding over a world...and a dog under every table."

The first definition seemed to wax poetic. Like Star Trek "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life...to boldly go where no man has gone before"; a wealth of information and of unseen peoples and places all encompassed in the "electronic night." The second definition felt like a continuation of the the first, touching again on an electronic vastness of information infiltrating diverse spaces where we work or kick up our feet and scratch the dog's head. By choosing to major in DTC I've willingly thrown myself into the hypermediated vastness of technology. With each class I take, I wade deeper and deeper into making all those preconceived notions of computers and technology into something more realized; in terms I'm comfortable with. I'm overwhelmed with the amount of information/sounds/images/programs/links out there. It's almost too expansive. Thankfully, each class I take builds upon the last and I feel like I'm gently being led into the knowledge of cyberspace. It isn't sink or swim. It's like floating, weightless and almost faceless, from the privacy of my home while sipping my morning coffee.

Introductions

2010-01-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hello all and welcome to my new DTC blog! My name is Dena Lacey. I am optimistic about this semester now that my brain has had winter break to reset and get re-energized. I have another blog, but will refrain from sharing it as it has been neglected for some time due to my really busy life.

Here's a bunch of random stuff about me:

I am 35 years old.
I am a junior at WSU Tri-Cities trying to obtain a degree in DTC (duh.). This is my second semester at WSU and I am scheduled to graduate in Spring 2011.
I am divorced and a single mom of the greatest kid on earth. His name is Beckett and he's 3 years old. He's the most amazing thing I've ever created and I am very proud of him!

I am originally from Austin, TX but have lived here in the NW since 2002.
I plan to move and set roots in Seattle once I finish my degree.

I have pretty typical interests. These include but are not limited to: cooking, baking, making my son laugh, watching movies (huge Coen brothers fan), singing out loud to classic rock songs, being a dork, reading, pretending to be a health nut, collecting gig posters and eclectic/kitschy artworks, home decorating (my own house, that is), talking on the phone, traveling, making sure my hair always looks presentable, tattoos, trying to say clever and funny things, and generally loving myself and l-i-v-i-n' life.
My favorite color is red.
I am an Aries...which makes me stubborn and headstrong among other notable qualities.
My favorite food is sushi (when I can afford it).
I want another tattoo...a half sleeve on my left arm.
I like my steak medium rare, my eggs scrambled and my coffee really creamy with a little sugar.
I love all classic rock music (bc it's the only thing my parents allowed us to listen to) and divide my time between classic rock and indie rock/pop/folk/alt-country. I am currently on a Cars, Foreigner, and The Bird and the Bee kick.
I tend to be a grade grubber but am trying not to care so much since it really makes me feel like a nerd.
Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men really scared the crap outta me.
I have a thing for vintage pin-up girls.
I like watching "reality" television if it requires real talent aka Top Chef, Project Runway, Shear Genius etc.
I am a huge Venture Bros. fan. (Go Team Venture!)

I want to learn to play the drums.
I have 3 siblings and am the oldest of the 3 daughters.

Alrighty then, I guess that's all I have for now. See ya 'round! :)