Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Algorithms...
All this algorithm stuff is kinda bizarre I think. It’s weird to think that a code on a computer can control so much…and it’s kinda scary. One of the videos was saying how we do all this work to connect a wire from New York to Chicago so that an algorithm can do something a little faster than another…but to the point that we humans won’t even be able to tell what it did. We just won’t know. How can a mathematical equation control so much? I know that I am stupid about this kinda stuff…like it just kinda blows my mind and it’s hard to think about and understand for me…but I just honestly do not understand.
And it’s one thing to have an algorithm that someone creates to see what movies you like to watch best so it knows which ones to promote to you, but what about the ones that humans don’t create? One of the articles was talking about how all of the sudden all these people got blocked from posting their opinions on facebook, but facebook says that they didn’t do it. It kinda just started happening and they weren’t quite sure how to fix it. And one of the videos was talking about an algorithm in stocks I think where like 9% of something (sorry…I didn’t quite understand the details, I understood it to be money though) just disappeared because of the algorithm and no one knew where it went or why it disappeared. It just did. I liked how Slavin put it…we are writing things that we cannot read…and that’s scary to me.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Tools and Networks
I know that the internet has helped us accomplish a lot...but these two videos (Anderson and Dash) showed me in much more detail what has been and still can be accomplished.
In Anderson, i thought it was really cool how the internet has helped so many industries grow. Even if they are just unusual hobbies that most people wouldn't have social networks for. With the internet, they can. They can connect with both people who have that hobby and ones who just think what is being shown is awesome.Which kinda means that youtube was a site that helped this a lot. I don't honestly know if there were many video sites out there before youtube, but Anderson was saying that millions of hours are spent on youtube today and that in ten years, 90 percent of the info on the internet will come through video. And those millions of hours on youtube are not all just spent looking at stupid stuff...there are informational videos on youtube. With Anderson, i just found it really interesting what a little "light" as he calls it can do when there is a group with desire.
I thought that Dash's video was really interesting too. The whole idea of tools and networks...and not just internet. He said that the printing press helped his grandfather connect to Ghandi. But just the ways that people can learn how to use the tools that they have access to and can change things for society. This was shown in the Anderson video too with the man from (africa?) that was able to use TED talks in his own way and produce food to help hungry families. And now we have tools that can help a high school kid give his idea to someone who may be able to actually do something about it through just a twitter to the whitehouse. Its amazing what someone who some kind of tool and knows how to use it right can produce its own network and go on to accomplish something great.
In Anderson, i thought it was really cool how the internet has helped so many industries grow. Even if they are just unusual hobbies that most people wouldn't have social networks for. With the internet, they can. They can connect with both people who have that hobby and ones who just think what is being shown is awesome.Which kinda means that youtube was a site that helped this a lot. I don't honestly know if there were many video sites out there before youtube, but Anderson was saying that millions of hours are spent on youtube today and that in ten years, 90 percent of the info on the internet will come through video. And those millions of hours on youtube are not all just spent looking at stupid stuff...there are informational videos on youtube. With Anderson, i just found it really interesting what a little "light" as he calls it can do when there is a group with desire.
I thought that Dash's video was really interesting too. The whole idea of tools and networks...and not just internet. He said that the printing press helped his grandfather connect to Ghandi. But just the ways that people can learn how to use the tools that they have access to and can change things for society. This was shown in the Anderson video too with the man from (africa?) that was able to use TED talks in his own way and produce food to help hungry families. And now we have tools that can help a high school kid give his idea to someone who may be able to actually do something about it through just a twitter to the whitehouse. Its amazing what someone who some kind of tool and knows how to use it right can produce its own network and go on to accomplish something great.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Intertextuality
In Porter's piece, i really liked the idea about how all texts are interdependent. We understand something we read in light of what we have read before hand. People write what they write in light of what they have read and how they understood it. This definitely reminded me of T.S. Eliot and Tradition, which i learned about in my lit crit class last year and probably one of the only things i really understood in that class. does this mean all writing is unoriginal though? i don't think so.
I thought the part about texts containing other texts was really interesting. Hearing someone tell someone else to 'open the door' contains the assumption that that person is more capable of opening the door at that moment. Hearing the phrase "once upon a time" automatically indicates the beginning of a fictitious tale.
With the Johnson-Eilola piece...that was a rough one. I basically never want to have to worry about copywriting in my life because it seems very complicated and there seemed to be a lot of court cases described. One thing i found interesting was the discussion of search engines in the piece...i never really thought of those as writing...
I thought the part about texts containing other texts was really interesting. Hearing someone tell someone else to 'open the door' contains the assumption that that person is more capable of opening the door at that moment. Hearing the phrase "once upon a time" automatically indicates the beginning of a fictitious tale.
With the Johnson-Eilola piece...that was a rough one. I basically never want to have to worry about copywriting in my life because it seems very complicated and there seemed to be a lot of court cases described. One thing i found interesting was the discussion of search engines in the piece...i never really thought of those as writing...
Monday, October 24, 2011
Digitalized Text
So, what i got out of Lanham was some of the pros and cons of digitalized text. First off, the author issue. It is so much easier to be able to hold a copyright and claim authorship when your work is in print. It just seems much more official, to me anyway, and one cannot change it. On the internet, however, texts can be changed, and i think it is harder to find the original author of something too. I think that when something is published on the web, writers may not follow citation rules quite as strictly as they might for books and other printed texts.
However, one of the pros to digitalized text is that you can change it...if a text is too small, you can make it bigger. If you don't like the font or color, you can change that too. You can search terms instead of reading the whole piece. You can copy and paste passages you find important into a Word doc to come back to later instead of having to copy them by hand. It is definitely more convenient that printed text in a lot of ways.
I still find print better though. If i need to search a key term, i will go to the digital version of the text, but as far as reading and highlighting goes, i like to have the paper or book in my hand.
I did find some of the things he describes in this article kind of amusing. Like the After Dark program...isn't that just the average screen saver? And a lot of the other things that he describes. He says that some people may call them "futuristic," but he argues that they are very much in the present. Yet to us, they are old news and new and more exciting things have been developed. Its always interesting to read articles from the past that talk about technology, whether present technology or "futuristic."
As far as the Kohl article goes...i have nothing to say. I did not find anything interesting in it and i enjoyed the Lanham one more.
However, one of the pros to digitalized text is that you can change it...if a text is too small, you can make it bigger. If you don't like the font or color, you can change that too. You can search terms instead of reading the whole piece. You can copy and paste passages you find important into a Word doc to come back to later instead of having to copy them by hand. It is definitely more convenient that printed text in a lot of ways.
I still find print better though. If i need to search a key term, i will go to the digital version of the text, but as far as reading and highlighting goes, i like to have the paper or book in my hand.
I did find some of the things he describes in this article kind of amusing. Like the After Dark program...isn't that just the average screen saver? And a lot of the other things that he describes. He says that some people may call them "futuristic," but he argues that they are very much in the present. Yet to us, they are old news and new and more exciting things have been developed. Its always interesting to read articles from the past that talk about technology, whether present technology or "futuristic."
As far as the Kohl article goes...i have nothing to say. I did not find anything interesting in it and i enjoyed the Lanham one more.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Mini Project 2
The other day in class, I believe it was Angie, mentioned something about how you can see one picture in a bunch of different lights depending on how you are told to look at it. So I decided to do my project using different pictures and different ways to look at them.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Design in Writing
When i read this week's readings, i just asked myself, why are me taught in school to simply do MLA formatting when learning how to design your writing can be so useful?
In the Bernhardt article, he wrote how the design and image of his paper helped it be noticed and read. That is what we need to know as students and especially as writing majors. We are going to depend on our writing getting noticed and sometimes, at least it sounds like it anyway, words just won't cut it. I think we need to be taught how to add more style to our writing, even if it is subtle.
Now the Wysocki article i found really helpful at first...but once she went off on beauty, i kind of lost the connection to design and writing. But when she was first writing, she was talking about how our eyes travel and what they land on and how certain elements of design can really draw a reader in. I liked how she used a lot of different fonts and styles. It doesn't have to be just picture images that we use to stylize our writing. It helped me get through each paragraph and onto the next one when i saw that there was a new subtitle and new font. It helped me see, not necessarily that she was moving on to a different subject, but that she was at least moving on to a different point of view or focus. There were times that one paragraph was talking about art giving pleasure and then her next point was that it doesn't necessarily have to be art to give pleasure. This subtitle, while connecting to the previous paragraphs, was in a different font and style. I don't know if this works for everybody, but i think it honestly made it a more interesting read. Style does a lot. This article reminded me of a magazine because it did not just stick to one writing style and format. It experimented and it always kept me interested to see what she said next, if not how she was going to use design and style on the next page.
In the Bernhardt article, he wrote how the design and image of his paper helped it be noticed and read. That is what we need to know as students and especially as writing majors. We are going to depend on our writing getting noticed and sometimes, at least it sounds like it anyway, words just won't cut it. I think we need to be taught how to add more style to our writing, even if it is subtle.
Now the Wysocki article i found really helpful at first...but once she went off on beauty, i kind of lost the connection to design and writing. But when she was first writing, she was talking about how our eyes travel and what they land on and how certain elements of design can really draw a reader in. I liked how she used a lot of different fonts and styles. It doesn't have to be just picture images that we use to stylize our writing. It helped me get through each paragraph and onto the next one when i saw that there was a new subtitle and new font. It helped me see, not necessarily that she was moving on to a different subject, but that she was at least moving on to a different point of view or focus. There were times that one paragraph was talking about art giving pleasure and then her next point was that it doesn't necessarily have to be art to give pleasure. This subtitle, while connecting to the previous paragraphs, was in a different font and style. I don't know if this works for everybody, but i think it honestly made it a more interesting read. Style does a lot. This article reminded me of a magazine because it did not just stick to one writing style and format. It experimented and it always kept me interested to see what she said next, if not how she was going to use design and style on the next page.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Web Identity
Ok, first the "Inter-Activity" article. When i read the first scenario in this article, i thought "this girl is multi-tasking. that may not be all that unusual for people today, but she seems to be taking it to an extreme." But then i got farther down and the author says that this is not multi-tasking. For one, most of what she is doing on the computer is not exactly "work." She is chatting and listening to music and while doing homework. They were not really tasks, and i didn't exactly get the impression that she was being very productive, something which multi-tasking is supposed to be. The fact that you can do so much over the computer at the same time was very interesting. And i thought it was really interesting when you compare face-to-face conversations and online ones. How rude would it be to being doing a million different things when a friend is trying to tell you something that is really bothering them and making them sad.
I by far liked the Williams article better though. Because i have not been on MySpace for who knows how long and i being on Facebook, i don't really see as much of the "profile identity" that so many people had on myspace. I no longer have pictures of my celebrity crushes and favorite movies pasted on my profile like i did on MySpace when i was in junior high and high school. And it is not just because Facebook does not quite offer those kinds of things like MySpace did. Even when i look at other people's profiles, i do not go searching for the pop-culture kind of information. I think the pictures one chooses to post tells a lot about them. And of course, the status posts tells a lot about someone, sometimes more than i wanted to know. But most importantly and something i did not notice Williams discussing is what others post on the profile. I think that tells a lot about a person too, which is interesting because it is not necessarily something that one chooses to post on their own profile.
I by far liked the Williams article better though. Because i have not been on MySpace for who knows how long and i being on Facebook, i don't really see as much of the "profile identity" that so many people had on myspace. I no longer have pictures of my celebrity crushes and favorite movies pasted on my profile like i did on MySpace when i was in junior high and high school. And it is not just because Facebook does not quite offer those kinds of things like MySpace did. Even when i look at other people's profiles, i do not go searching for the pop-culture kind of information. I think the pictures one chooses to post tells a lot about them. And of course, the status posts tells a lot about someone, sometimes more than i wanted to know. But most importantly and something i did not notice Williams discussing is what others post on the profile. I think that tells a lot about a person too, which is interesting because it is not necessarily something that one chooses to post on their own profile.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Here We Go Again
Ok, so i'm gonna be completely honest and say that these articles put me to sleep...and it was hard for me to get anything out of them. But here is what i did come up with...
First of all, this whole conversation about change from "old-fashioned" reading and writing to digital reading and writing is really interesting. but i never thought about how the "old-fashioned" way was once the new way. when people first started writing, people were scared that they would lose their use of memory just like we (or I) am scared that with all the digital reading and writing we will lose the luxuries of real books and actual letter writing. but at some point it is likely that we will all be so conformed to the new way of doing things that we will not even notice what has faded out and what has taken its place. Even the pencil has gone through many upgrades...which i thought was kind of funny. Thoreau seemed to be so intent on keeping things the way they were that he began making his own pencils, but even he would have had to face reality and go with the flow considering one of the articles said it would cost someone like fifty dollars or something per pencil if they were to take that up as a hobby. So are we, meaning the ones that do not want the change that seems so inevitable, going to have to conform eventually, whether we want to or not?
First of all, this whole conversation about change from "old-fashioned" reading and writing to digital reading and writing is really interesting. but i never thought about how the "old-fashioned" way was once the new way. when people first started writing, people were scared that they would lose their use of memory just like we (or I) am scared that with all the digital reading and writing we will lose the luxuries of real books and actual letter writing. but at some point it is likely that we will all be so conformed to the new way of doing things that we will not even notice what has faded out and what has taken its place. Even the pencil has gone through many upgrades...which i thought was kind of funny. Thoreau seemed to be so intent on keeping things the way they were that he began making his own pencils, but even he would have had to face reality and go with the flow considering one of the articles said it would cost someone like fifty dollars or something per pencil if they were to take that up as a hobby. So are we, meaning the ones that do not want the change that seems so inevitable, going to have to conform eventually, whether we want to or not?
Monday, September 19, 2011
Words vs Pictures
This week's reading was a lot more enjoyable than i expected. I did like McCloud a lot and i like the idea of using pictures and words to work together. Maybe it is because this piece was actually dealing with comics, but i felt this was a thousand times easier to understand the way he had written it than if someone wrote it in the normal essay form. Like i said, it may be because he was actually dealing with the idea of comics, words, and pictures...but part of me wishes that Grant-Davie and all the other people we have read this semester could write exactly the way McCloud does. Its enjoyable and easier to understand. Now i am not saying i understood everything. Chapter 2 was a little fuzzy for me...i'm not real sure i grasp what he is saying about us being able to relate easier to cartoons. That theory may need to be explained a little more.
I did find how much thought goes into the comics intriguing. And not even intentional thought. I think some people just draw the way they want to draw and then others see something special and different in it. Like the way McCloud was describing how the style of comics came about. Did the people think "I'm going to do something entirely new and get rid of the 'word box' and put the words right in with the pictures." Or did they just do it because thats the way they saw it in their minds without even questioning the "newness" of it. Or like how different people did different things to portray movement. I just found it all very interesting. I also think that whoever analyzes this stuff really puts a lot of thought into it...like McCloud.
I also found the Thompson article to be interesting, especially the part about how he was able to explain Obama's plan to everyone better in picture form. I never saw myself as a really visual learner, but now i am starting to think that most of us just might have an inclination to visual learning. And i think we should take advantage of it more.
I did find how much thought goes into the comics intriguing. And not even intentional thought. I think some people just draw the way they want to draw and then others see something special and different in it. Like the way McCloud was describing how the style of comics came about. Did the people think "I'm going to do something entirely new and get rid of the 'word box' and put the words right in with the pictures." Or did they just do it because thats the way they saw it in their minds without even questioning the "newness" of it. Or like how different people did different things to portray movement. I just found it all very interesting. I also think that whoever analyzes this stuff really puts a lot of thought into it...like McCloud.
I also found the Thompson article to be interesting, especially the part about how he was able to explain Obama's plan to everyone better in picture form. I never saw myself as a really visual learner, but now i am starting to think that most of us just might have an inclination to visual learning. And i think we should take advantage of it more.
Monday, September 12, 2011
All About Reading
These three articles, "Hyper-Readers" by Sosnoski, "Reading the Visual in College Writing Classes" by Hill, and "We Can't Teach Students to Love Reading" by Jacobs, I actually found pretty interesting.
Right away Sosnoski's article caught my eye because I am one of those readers who hate to read on the computer. I will print the article out that I am supposed to read for a class no matter how long it is. I will never buy a Nook or a Kindle because I like the idea of having an actual book. But I do agree with Sosnoski that there are a lot of advantages to reading on the computer, like what seemed to be his main emphasis, search engines. I found it kind of funny that this article was obviously written a few years ago because the author said one day he is sure that there will be some sort of handheld computer that will be like a book. That was kind of funny. I find it really interesting though how even back then, when it was still dial up interent, that people were predicting that soon texts will all be digital...and look at us now? We are getting closer and closer to that happening...unfortunately.
What I found interesting about Hill's article was how much emphasis our culture really does put into images and what all you can actually do with images. One can make so many assumptions just by looking at a picture. Or even make assumptions of what a article or essay is about by the style of font that the title is written in. I also found it interesting that two people can make different assumptions by seeing one image. Its just crazy how pictures really are worth a thousand words and how much meaning they have to us. Even as people not studying rhetoric. They use images in ads that get the message they want across to all sorts of people.
The Jacobs article is the one I liked the least. My only real comment on this article is why are they even questioning the idea of not being able to teach people to love to read. There are plenty of hobbies that some people are very passionate about while others do not understand the craze. I feel like reading is a lot like math. My boyfriend loves math and does not understand my love of reading. I love reading and do not understand his love of math. You cannot teach people to love something that they don't. I think hobbies are kind of engrained in people. If you like something, you like it. If you don't, you don't. I just don't understand why they think reading is different than any other hobby out there.
Right away Sosnoski's article caught my eye because I am one of those readers who hate to read on the computer. I will print the article out that I am supposed to read for a class no matter how long it is. I will never buy a Nook or a Kindle because I like the idea of having an actual book. But I do agree with Sosnoski that there are a lot of advantages to reading on the computer, like what seemed to be his main emphasis, search engines. I found it kind of funny that this article was obviously written a few years ago because the author said one day he is sure that there will be some sort of handheld computer that will be like a book. That was kind of funny. I find it really interesting though how even back then, when it was still dial up interent, that people were predicting that soon texts will all be digital...and look at us now? We are getting closer and closer to that happening...unfortunately.
What I found interesting about Hill's article was how much emphasis our culture really does put into images and what all you can actually do with images. One can make so many assumptions just by looking at a picture. Or even make assumptions of what a article or essay is about by the style of font that the title is written in. I also found it interesting that two people can make different assumptions by seeing one image. Its just crazy how pictures really are worth a thousand words and how much meaning they have to us. Even as people not studying rhetoric. They use images in ads that get the message they want across to all sorts of people.
The Jacobs article is the one I liked the least. My only real comment on this article is why are they even questioning the idea of not being able to teach people to love to read. There are plenty of hobbies that some people are very passionate about while others do not understand the craze. I feel like reading is a lot like math. My boyfriend loves math and does not understand my love of reading. I love reading and do not understand his love of math. You cannot teach people to love something that they don't. I think hobbies are kind of engrained in people. If you like something, you like it. If you don't, you don't. I just don't understand why they think reading is different than any other hobby out there.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
My Insights on Rhetoric
So, from the two readings that we were assigned ("What is Rhetoric?" and "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents") I definitely found "What is Rhetoric" to be helpful. It helped me at least define what rhetoric was in a way that I myself can understand it. It is persuading someone. Whether it be in an unimportant argument with a friend, or a presentation on why your organization needs more funding, or in a paper in which you present your thesis. In all of these, you want your audience to at least believe that you may be on to something. You don't want them to just discount what you are saying as nonsense and for this, rhetoric comes in handy. What i found most helpful and interesting is the style that rhetoric can take. I never thought that simply emphasizing a point by raising your voice or italicizing a certain point in a paper can be a style of rhetoric. This actually helped me understand things a lot. As soon as i read this part, something just clicked...i had an aha moment.
Honestly, the essay "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents" was hard for me to follow and I didn't get much out of it. I did have the question as to why the author of this paper actually was the first to come up with the rhetor being one of the constituents. To me, it seems kind of obvious that the rhetor would be and that he could be considered as audience as well. Maybe that is why others never really regarded the rhetor in this way? Because they just put him in the category of audience? Or is there something that I am not quite understanding in which they had every reason to discount the rhetor as one of the constituents in a rhetorical situation?
Honestly, the essay "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents" was hard for me to follow and I didn't get much out of it. I did have the question as to why the author of this paper actually was the first to come up with the rhetor being one of the constituents. To me, it seems kind of obvious that the rhetor would be and that he could be considered as audience as well. Maybe that is why others never really regarded the rhetor in this way? Because they just put him in the category of audience? Or is there something that I am not quite understanding in which they had every reason to discount the rhetor as one of the constituents in a rhetorical situation?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Me
Ok, so i guess i'm supposed to tell a little about myself...
I am a senior this year at MSU and i'm majoring in writing. I grew up in Victorville, Ca., but at the age of fourteen i moved up with my parents and brother to the small town of Chester, Mt. I have lived in the state for six years now and i love it. I finished my first two years of college at Flathead Valley Community College and transferred to MSU last year as a junior. I hope to one day work in a publishing company...although i'm not quite sure what i'd like to do there. Maybe editing, writing, or both. I love to read and write and just hang out. My favorite author is Ted Dekker...he writes Christian fantasies and thrillers. My favorite color is green. My favorite place is Disneyland. My favorite food is anything sweet. My family, friends, and Faith are all very important to me...and this is about all there is to write!
I am a senior this year at MSU and i'm majoring in writing. I grew up in Victorville, Ca., but at the age of fourteen i moved up with my parents and brother to the small town of Chester, Mt. I have lived in the state for six years now and i love it. I finished my first two years of college at Flathead Valley Community College and transferred to MSU last year as a junior. I hope to one day work in a publishing company...although i'm not quite sure what i'd like to do there. Maybe editing, writing, or both. I love to read and write and just hang out. My favorite author is Ted Dekker...he writes Christian fantasies and thrillers. My favorite color is green. My favorite place is Disneyland. My favorite food is anything sweet. My family, friends, and Faith are all very important to me...and this is about all there is to write!
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