Sunday, September 27, 2009
Virtual Contribution
Here is the link to the full text version of this years first class essay for Hon Engl 105-07. To view in word once you click on the hyper-link go to file then download as then click word. If you do any changes please use a different font color.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Musing
In this world of constant acceleration we people fail to always review the results of our hard work. On the rare occasion that we do we often realize all that we have accomplished and feel much more satisfied following the reflection. I may not be able to speak for everyone but I can see how my internet habits and perhaps even my critical thinking has changed thanks to the work I have put into this Honors English class thus far.
I began this class extremely worried about how I would do and if I would even learn anything I didn't already know. Thankfully my anxiety has settled for I have learned much about this new age of writing. From the readings and the required blog post I have learned to better adapt to the type of literacy that is required now days. For one example I am now able to process virtual readings better; instead of just reading the words I now read between the lines just like I would do in a book. Another is that I have been able to write down my thoughts into a nice steady flow of words because I have read so many articles from the internet their writing techniques have been transposed into mine now.
I guess though what I am really trying to say through all these words is that I have matured as a reader and writer thanks to the analysis of the readings such as the ones from Sullivan, Hedges, and Thompson. I think the reason for this is because they brought several questions to my attention. The major ones being: "How is literacy defined?"; “What is the internet doing to us?"; "How could this change effect us?" I still have no answer to these questions but I do have a better understanding of how the internet may negatively or positively affect me. I believe this makes me more aware and less likely to suffer negative effects and continue to use the internet and everything it has to offer to my advantage.
I began this class extremely worried about how I would do and if I would even learn anything I didn't already know. Thankfully my anxiety has settled for I have learned much about this new age of writing. From the readings and the required blog post I have learned to better adapt to the type of literacy that is required now days. For one example I am now able to process virtual readings better; instead of just reading the words I now read between the lines just like I would do in a book. Another is that I have been able to write down my thoughts into a nice steady flow of words because I have read so many articles from the internet their writing techniques have been transposed into mine now.
I guess though what I am really trying to say through all these words is that I have matured as a reader and writer thanks to the analysis of the readings such as the ones from Sullivan, Hedges, and Thompson. I think the reason for this is because they brought several questions to my attention. The major ones being: "How is literacy defined?"; “What is the internet doing to us?"; "How could this change effect us?" I still have no answer to these questions but I do have a better understanding of how the internet may negatively or positively affect me. I believe this makes me more aware and less likely to suffer negative effects and continue to use the internet and everything it has to offer to my advantage.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Finally: Somebody Gets It.
In the most unfortunate event I was required to read Chris Hedges's literary piece, "Bad Day for Newsrooms-and Democracy." I am pleased to say, though, it was not nearly the rant that his other article, "America the Illiterate", was. I do find it disturbing if there really are 6,000 journalists losing their jobs but I cannot be certain to say that because he did not provide a source for this statistic. Once again I hardly stood beside Hedges's views because I believe the corrupt news reports began with the newspapers themselves and have since then traveled to all other news sources if that corruption really has occurred. Sadly I do not have many thoughts on this article simply because it was very short and did not cover very much at all and I would prefer to discuss the other author I read.
Clive Thompson was this new author in a piece called, "Clive Thompson on New Literacy." I loved this piece because it was short, simple, and right to the point. He also had valid evidence to support his thoughts unlike Hedges. This form of writing is very opposite to Hedges's and this piece is in direct conflict with the first piece of Hedges's that I had read. As for the second work its’ topic does not directly relate to Clive Thompson's piece very well.
Thompson finally is the one who gets it. We (meaning my generation) do use slang and do not always write with proper English when we are texting or using the internet but we sure do write a lot in whatever form we choose and we read tons. I am slightly afraid to say this considering this blog will be put on the wall of forever, that is the internet, but I have what I think to be this weird habit. Whenever there are signs or anything with writing I have to read it (that is if I am not already occupied). If other people share this habit with me that in itself just proves Thompson is right and Hedges is wrong because that means literacy is ingrained into the vast majority of us.
I can strongly prove as evidence to Thompson’s reports because I myself carry most all of the habits mentioned in his piece, “Clive Thompson on New Literacy.”
Clive Thompson was this new author in a piece called, "Clive Thompson on New Literacy." I loved this piece because it was short, simple, and right to the point. He also had valid evidence to support his thoughts unlike Hedges. This form of writing is very opposite to Hedges's and this piece is in direct conflict with the first piece of Hedges's that I had read. As for the second work its’ topic does not directly relate to Clive Thompson's piece very well.
Thompson finally is the one who gets it. We (meaning my generation) do use slang and do not always write with proper English when we are texting or using the internet but we sure do write a lot in whatever form we choose and we read tons. I am slightly afraid to say this considering this blog will be put on the wall of forever, that is the internet, but I have what I think to be this weird habit. Whenever there are signs or anything with writing I have to read it (that is if I am not already occupied). If other people share this habit with me that in itself just proves Thompson is right and Hedges is wrong because that means literacy is ingrained into the vast majority of us.
I can strongly prove as evidence to Thompson’s reports because I myself carry most all of the habits mentioned in his piece, “Clive Thompson on New Literacy.”
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The All-American Hobbes
I try to not judge a piece until I have read through it completely but I could not help myself in Chris Hedges's article, "America the Illiterate." I thought his views were very radical. I am not to say they are completely in accurate but they were extreme. This article really did feel like a rant instead of an argument or statement. As I read I felt there was very little support to what he said. The statistics he gave without citing a source in particular. He also did not seem to have much of an audience that he was writing for because he never incorporated the audience unless you count him basically calling the general American population superficial and illiterate. This in itself is contradictory because the illiterate American population would not be able to read his article. As a side note I did enjoy the picture he supplied that had nothing to do with his article which may have purposely been placed there.
In the building of skeptics Nicholas Carr's room (with his article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?") would be on the middle floor and be the sunroom. Chris Hedges's room would be the basement with broken lights. Although both authors have the same general topic of the lack of literacy Carr toys with the question of how much we American's have been harmfully effected by technology possibly answering with a 'yes, no, maybe so' where as Hedges takes the question and runs with it stating that the general population has become ignorant, indulging, and illiterate. Hedges also claims that in the past speeches giving by political icons they were given at higher comprehension levels (i.e. grade 10 or 11 and etc). Perhaps Hedges is correct that Abraham Lincoln may have given a speech for grade level 12 but we must take into consideration what percent of the population actually understood the speech verses the percent that understands at a lower graded speech.
Perhaps Hedges unsupported statistic that nearly one third of the American population is correct but what is important is that our society is moving forward because I can guarantee that statistic has lowered significantly since the establishment of America.
Call me a bit of a Locke but I fail to believe Americans are as stupidly ignorant as Mr. Hedges would like us to believe.
In the building of skeptics Nicholas Carr's room (with his article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?") would be on the middle floor and be the sunroom. Chris Hedges's room would be the basement with broken lights. Although both authors have the same general topic of the lack of literacy Carr toys with the question of how much we American's have been harmfully effected by technology possibly answering with a 'yes, no, maybe so' where as Hedges takes the question and runs with it stating that the general population has become ignorant, indulging, and illiterate. Hedges also claims that in the past speeches giving by political icons they were given at higher comprehension levels (i.e. grade 10 or 11 and etc). Perhaps Hedges is correct that Abraham Lincoln may have given a speech for grade level 12 but we must take into consideration what percent of the population actually understood the speech verses the percent that understands at a lower graded speech.
Perhaps Hedges unsupported statistic that nearly one third of the American population is correct but what is important is that our society is moving forward because I can guarantee that statistic has lowered significantly since the establishment of America.
Call me a bit of a Locke but I fail to believe Americans are as stupidly ignorant as Mr. Hedges would like us to believe.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Ten Percent
Nicholas Carr writes an article titled, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" I read this in the most unbiased way possible for me so that I would not make any judgments about his thoughts until I had read the work through completely. After this I made my judgment and for the most I disagreed with his views and I think the generation gap we share is the cause of this. Non-surprisingly I Google searched what year he was born and with a consensus of several sites I concluded 1959 had to the correct. Finding this out did not surprise me at all considering his attitude toward Google and the web in general. One clue that set me off he must be older was him saying the "Net" for the internet for me that is old fashioned and it's just referred to as the "web". Another thing was how he said his reading patterns have been affected through the years with the pros and cons the internet has created.
In my opinion it is safe to say that he does think Google along with the web as a whole is making us stupid because he thinks we store information gained through the web in our short-term memory and that we are less able to read deeply and thus think deeply. I actually can see from his point of view but I have to argue with it because I feel opposite about it. Using myself as an example I have grown up with the internet since it becoming big unlike him with it starting out. Because of this I think I have developed a different way of thinking than he has because I have always had the convenience of the internet. For me I have learned how to incorporate deep thought with the use of the internet. This may be the result of my ability and perhaps my generations’ ability to multi-task with great efficiency. Since my adulthood has begun I have learned a few things about my thinking habits and those of others too. For me I actually cannot concentrate unless there is noise around me. In fact as I sat in my dorm room reading the article and then commenting on it via this blog I had been listening music this entire time. This sort of example can be identified with any group of students.
I cannot really explain why I have to be doing something else with my brain (i.e. listening to music while doing homework) but I do know that this has not made it harder for me to store information in my long-term memory nor do I think I have gained less knowledge. On the whole I think this way of functioning is a new step for human brain development. Now I do not want to say this with absolute declaration but I propose that over a long period of time the interaction of humans with the internet may initiate a higher percent of brain usage than the current ten percent because we humans may learn how to process and categorize information like that of a computer thus being able to comprehend and store greater amounts of information.
In my opinion it is safe to say that he does think Google along with the web as a whole is making us stupid because he thinks we store information gained through the web in our short-term memory and that we are less able to read deeply and thus think deeply. I actually can see from his point of view but I have to argue with it because I feel opposite about it. Using myself as an example I have grown up with the internet since it becoming big unlike him with it starting out. Because of this I think I have developed a different way of thinking than he has because I have always had the convenience of the internet. For me I have learned how to incorporate deep thought with the use of the internet. This may be the result of my ability and perhaps my generations’ ability to multi-task with great efficiency. Since my adulthood has begun I have learned a few things about my thinking habits and those of others too. For me I actually cannot concentrate unless there is noise around me. In fact as I sat in my dorm room reading the article and then commenting on it via this blog I had been listening music this entire time. This sort of example can be identified with any group of students.
I cannot really explain why I have to be doing something else with my brain (i.e. listening to music while doing homework) but I do know that this has not made it harder for me to store information in my long-term memory nor do I think I have gained less knowledge. On the whole I think this way of functioning is a new step for human brain development. Now I do not want to say this with absolute declaration but I propose that over a long period of time the interaction of humans with the internet may initiate a higher percent of brain usage than the current ten percent because we humans may learn how to process and categorize information like that of a computer thus being able to comprehend and store greater amounts of information.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Monkey See; Monkey Do
Harris has a very interesting view point on writing. The irony of that previous sentence is eminent. I say this because I have incorporated his words into my own already. What I am specifically referring to is 'interesting'. He says that there are three main referrals when the word interest comes into play. I too am using all three "definitions" with this term. I find this to be the best way to describe his writing because he himself incorporates all his meanings of interest into his work. This along with the book format is key to getting his thoughts across the page and into his readers' own thoughts simply by practicing what he is preaching
In his work Harris also places an emphasis on the tediousness of writing this was originally very contradictory to my view on blogging. When it comes to the blog I see it as a form of saying exactly what you think as you think it and rushing to finish it, as I am now in hopes to meet my time requirement. This was until I made the connection from Harris's work to blogging. He says it’s a way of forwarding thoughts by incorporating others' thoughts too. This directly relates to the internet for two reasons: One by using the word 'forwarding' as would be used in email and two because the application of that idea into non-virtual text. Although there are various differences in the since of virtual and non-virtual text they all have a certain degree of tediousness and other textual incorporations. In non-virtual text it may take weeks, months, or year to get a piece published because of rigorous research and other textual incorporations. In blogging publication is immediate and does not allow for rigorous research incorporation but it does allow for hyperlinks allowing for the reader to directly look at your source just by a click of a button. This in itself is what makes the difference of writing mediums equal because one my not have what the other haves but they do both have different forms completing the same goal.
In his work Harris also places an emphasis on the tediousness of writing this was originally very contradictory to my view on blogging. When it comes to the blog I see it as a form of saying exactly what you think as you think it and rushing to finish it, as I am now in hopes to meet my time requirement. This was until I made the connection from Harris's work to blogging. He says it’s a way of forwarding thoughts by incorporating others' thoughts too. This directly relates to the internet for two reasons: One by using the word 'forwarding' as would be used in email and two because the application of that idea into non-virtual text. Although there are various differences in the since of virtual and non-virtual text they all have a certain degree of tediousness and other textual incorporations. In non-virtual text it may take weeks, months, or year to get a piece published because of rigorous research and other textual incorporations. In blogging publication is immediate and does not allow for rigorous research incorporation but it does allow for hyperlinks allowing for the reader to directly look at your source just by a click of a button. This in itself is what makes the difference of writing mediums equal because one my not have what the other haves but they do both have different forms completing the same goal.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Evening Paper
The old timers, they all say we kids are making a muck of things and missing out in the good-o'l-fashion ways of life. I say that is on the contrary: Our generation has created a new way to live life. The elders lived life at a slower pace because that’s how it was back then, they did not have the chaos of the latest technologies. Their era allowed for slow processes such as finding major news through the morning newspapers. In the now you are seriously behind if this is how you find anything out. Therefore our generation has adapted to keep up to date with life. Our solution: Be a step ahead.
Now don't get me wrong I am not saying that we have to know the future before it happens; what I am saying is that we search to find out news before major word gets out. To do this the internet is the tool we use. With the internet anything published can be seen by the world in a matter of milliseconds. Along with this the internet is accessible to anyone 24 hours a day seven days a week. Therefore news can be published right after the event.
Most commonly anything worth publication is done during the day and then put on the internet before nightfall. Because of this redundancy our generation has seemed to have develope a similar routine just like the older generations. I would like to label this habit as the daily reading of the evening paper. This is in relationship to the well known routine of having coffee and reading the morning paper. I find this to be the most appropriate label because of the commonalities my classmates and I share in internet habits.
The internet logs that I looked at had three commonalities; the majority of internet browsing to be in the evening, Facebook, and three general internet categories. The first in that list gave me the initial idea of the evening newspaper since so many people logged online at times that would seem to be right before bed. I think people do this in hopes to gain information before bed so that they will be informed of the past day’s events at the very beginning of their day. I believe Facebook to be another commonality because it is the fastest way to receive information on peers and even world news. The last in the list would consist of humor sites, news sites, and social sites. I pick these three because the internet seems to be a sort of outlet for our generation and seeing that we are all human we tend to desire the same general things in life.
Now don't get me wrong I am not saying that we have to know the future before it happens; what I am saying is that we search to find out news before major word gets out. To do this the internet is the tool we use. With the internet anything published can be seen by the world in a matter of milliseconds. Along with this the internet is accessible to anyone 24 hours a day seven days a week. Therefore news can be published right after the event.
Most commonly anything worth publication is done during the day and then put on the internet before nightfall. Because of this redundancy our generation has seemed to have develope a similar routine just like the older generations. I would like to label this habit as the daily reading of the evening paper. This is in relationship to the well known routine of having coffee and reading the morning paper. I find this to be the most appropriate label because of the commonalities my classmates and I share in internet habits.
The internet logs that I looked at had three commonalities; the majority of internet browsing to be in the evening, Facebook, and three general internet categories. The first in that list gave me the initial idea of the evening newspaper since so many people logged online at times that would seem to be right before bed. I think people do this in hopes to gain information before bed so that they will be informed of the past day’s events at the very beginning of their day. I believe Facebook to be another commonality because it is the fastest way to receive information on peers and even world news. The last in the list would consist of humor sites, news sites, and social sites. I pick these three because the internet seems to be a sort of outlet for our generation and seeing that we are all human we tend to desire the same general things in life.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Internet Habits
Over the course of two days it appears that I visited a lot of sites thus spending a lot of time online. In actually I probably spent about twenty minutes in total online thanks to the speed of my Internet connection. Below is my list of Internet sites that I viewed along with a vague time frame I spent on each one
Sunday September 6th, 2009
12:13pm - http://tkaylee13.blogspot.com
12:15pm - http://translate.google.com/translate_t
12:17pm - http://uoflenglish105.blogspot.com
5:34pm - http://www.usbank.com
7:52pm - http://varsity.kansascity.com/custom/article&news_id=2304
Monday September 7th, 2009
6:00pm - https://blackboard.louisville.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
6:04pm - http://www.blogger.com/home
6:04pm - http://blogsearch.google.com/?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wb
6:08pm - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home
6:08pm - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30740497&id=1299450368&comments&alert
6:09pm - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1299450368&v=feed&story_fbid=171146211144
6:11pm - http://www.facebook.com
6:15pm - http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8
7:05pm - https://gwwebic.louisville.edu/gw/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=qk7go9Tgdmk5lh0Fq6&Item.drn=450z3z0&merge=msgitem&Url.Folder.type=Folder.UNIVERSAL
7:08pm - http://louisville.edu
7:09pm - https://paprodic.louisville.edu/psp/paprod/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=PAPP_GUEST
7:11pm - http://tkaylee13.blogspot.com
This summary includes my Internet visits up until this current one of my new post creation. Looking at my sites I have found that my views are sporadic which relates to my way of thinking. A metaphorical way of relating it is that my mind has A.D.D and that's how my viewed sites are too; I will be viewing whatever site I am on and then some random event will make me think to look at another cite.
This small project was interesting to conduct because I have never before analyzed my Internet habits. In the process I discovered my Internet reading habits also. Whenever I read anything I always seem to highlight it by clicking the words. I also always have the line I am reading at the edge of the browser window (top or bottom) depending on the text format. Another unique reading characteristic that I have is that I immediately look up any words I do not know using my dictionary tool in my google bar.
Overall I have found that my Internet habits are very different compared to other habits outside of the virtual world. Also I found that I spend less time on the Internet than I original thought I would have over a weekend.
Sunday September 6th, 2009
12:13pm - http://tkaylee13.blogspot.com
12:15pm - http://translate.google.com/translate_t
12:17pm - http://uoflenglish105.blogspot.com
5:34pm - http://www.usbank.com
7:52pm - http://varsity.kansascity.com/custom/article&news_id=2304
Monday September 7th, 2009
6:00pm - https://blackboard.louisville.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
6:04pm - http://www.blogger.com/home
6:04pm - http://blogsearch.google.com/?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wb
6:08pm - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home
6:08pm - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30740497&id=1299450368&comments&alert
6:09pm - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1299450368&v=feed&story_fbid=171146211144
6:11pm - http://www.facebook.com
6:15pm - http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8
7:05pm - https://gwwebic.louisville.edu/gw/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=qk7go9Tgdmk5lh0Fq6&Item.drn=450z3z0&merge=msgitem&Url.Folder.type=Folder.UNIVERSAL
7:08pm - http://louisville.edu
7:09pm - https://paprodic.louisville.edu/psp/paprod/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=PAPP_GUEST
7:11pm - http://tkaylee13.blogspot.com
This summary includes my Internet visits up until this current one of my new post creation. Looking at my sites I have found that my views are sporadic which relates to my way of thinking. A metaphorical way of relating it is that my mind has A.D.D and that's how my viewed sites are too; I will be viewing whatever site I am on and then some random event will make me think to look at another cite.
This small project was interesting to conduct because I have never before analyzed my Internet habits. In the process I discovered my Internet reading habits also. Whenever I read anything I always seem to highlight it by clicking the words. I also always have the line I am reading at the edge of the browser window (top or bottom) depending on the text format. Another unique reading characteristic that I have is that I immediately look up any words I do not know using my dictionary tool in my google bar.
Overall I have found that my Internet habits are very different compared to other habits outside of the virtual world. Also I found that I spend less time on the Internet than I original thought I would have over a weekend.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
al blog, στο blog, à un blog
Al blog, στο blog, à un blog. Despite these three languages (Spanish, Greek, and French) there is one common word: Blog. Who would have thought that this four letter word, whose origins come from web log, would transverse so many languages? This directly relates to one of Andrew Sullivan's thoughts on why he blogs. In his article "Why I Blog" he says that he directly gets feedback from the writers instead of finding whatever out only through the editors of a paper, journal, etc. This creates a flow of thought through the body of people whether that be the author or the reader thus upholding the concrete idea of is being discussed.
After reading Andrew Sullivan's article as a whole I can most all of his view points on blogging. I personal value hard copies of written literature over digital copies any day of the week but I do not see the demise of hard copies anytime soon. This is where Andrew Sullivan's metaphor using jazz music towards the end of his article gave me the biggest conformation on my beliefs. He says along these lines that just like jazz people talk over them both which is drastically changes the environment when experiencing or taking part in that verses classical music and paper. The difference really is that a different degree of human interaction is involved.
When you read a book all you can do is develop your opinion of the writer’s voice. When you blogging you can give your opinion through voicing it rather than merely develop it and never communicating your thoughts with the author directly. The whole blog I am currently writing could actually be posted as a comment onto Andrew Sullivan's blog article and he could personal read what I have to and develop his own thoughts about me. When you only have a hard copy this direct interaction or "intimacy" is eliminated between the author and reader by the third party editor/etc.
Another important view I took from Andrew Sullivan's article was the idea that this intimacy when blogging created a sort of friendship. This concept is what makes it possible to have cohesive and persuasive arguments on a subject via the virtual world. I think blogging will not make print materials obsolete but I do think it provides our culture with a reasonable and fast type of communication in an ever decreasing world of humanization.
After reading Andrew Sullivan's article as a whole I can most all of his view points on blogging. I personal value hard copies of written literature over digital copies any day of the week but I do not see the demise of hard copies anytime soon. This is where Andrew Sullivan's metaphor using jazz music towards the end of his article gave me the biggest conformation on my beliefs. He says along these lines that just like jazz people talk over them both which is drastically changes the environment when experiencing or taking part in that verses classical music and paper. The difference really is that a different degree of human interaction is involved.
When you read a book all you can do is develop your opinion of the writer’s voice. When you blogging you can give your opinion through voicing it rather than merely develop it and never communicating your thoughts with the author directly. The whole blog I am currently writing could actually be posted as a comment onto Andrew Sullivan's blog article and he could personal read what I have to and develop his own thoughts about me. When you only have a hard copy this direct interaction or "intimacy" is eliminated between the author and reader by the third party editor/etc.
Another important view I took from Andrew Sullivan's article was the idea that this intimacy when blogging created a sort of friendship. This concept is what makes it possible to have cohesive and persuasive arguments on a subject via the virtual world. I think blogging will not make print materials obsolete but I do think it provides our culture with a reasonable and fast type of communication in an ever decreasing world of humanization.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)