compost for final paper

I think I am going to revise my fourth essay. I wrote about the “rate of change” that Birkerts spoke about in GE. I want to take this idea further and explore an actual timeline of technologies, hopefully as far back as writing. I also want to take a look at future technological goals (gas-less cars?) and goals that we thought we would have  achieved by now (flying cars!).

tech is a way of life and cannot be ignored or denied.

New machine vs. old machine. Is there any newer technology that has not totally replaced an old machine? Paper? The fork and spoon was not replaced by the spork.

I might look at technology’s impact on the classroom/education…

WAC Wiki- Comma Splice

Comma Splice

Definition:

A comma splice is when two independent clauses are connected by only a comma; it causes a run-on sentence, which is unacceptable in both American and British English. There are multiple ways to correct the problem, such as using a semi-colon instead of a comma or making the second clause dependent on the first one. The two clauses can also be used to make two separate sentences, or they can be joined using a comma and a conjunction.

History:
The comma is descended from the slash mark, which was used in the 13th through 17th centuries to represent a pause. During the 16th century, the slash mark was modified to look like the comma that is used today.

Examples:

1)    Crabs are vicious creatures, they eat each other alive if they are kept in a bushel together for too long.
This sentence is a run-on because the clauses do not depend on each other. It would be acceptable to say:
•    Crabs are vicious creatures. They eat each other alive if they are kept in a bushel together for too long.
•    Crabs are vicious creatures, and they eat each other alive if they are kept in a bushel together for too long.
•    Crabs are vicious creatures; they eat each other alive if they are kept in a bushel together for too long.
It is also possible to make the second clause a subordinate clause.
•    Because crabs are vicious creatures, they eat each other alive if they are kept in a bushel together for too long.

2)    I would like to see my brother wrestle, he has the potential to be very successful.
This sentence is a run on, as well. Although the two sentences relate to one another, they are independent from each other. A comma is not sufficient punctuation to separate the clauses. It would be acceptable to say:
•    I would like to see my brother wrestle. He has the potential to be very successful.
•    I would like to see my brother wrestle because he has the potential to be very successful.
•    I would like to see my brother wrestle, for he has the potential to be very successful.
•    I would like to see my brother wrestle; he has the potential to be very successful.

3)    I came, I saw, I conquered.
There are always exceptions to the rule. This sentence is acceptable because the independent clauses are short, have the same subject, and are parallel.

Sources:
Blue, Tina. “When Is a Comma Splice NOT an Error?.” 25 Aug 2000 1 Dec 2008 <http://grammartips.homestead.com/>.
“Comma.” Wikipedia. 1 Dec 2008 <http://www.wikipedia.org>.
“Comma Splice.” Wikipedia. 1 Dec 2008 <http://www.wikipedia.org>.
Fogarty, Mignon. “Comma Splice.” Grammar Girl 4515 Mar 2007 1 Dec 2008 <http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/>.

Rate of Change (Paper 4)

Rate of Change
Life is affected by technology in an infinite number of ways, but everyone has a different opinion about whether those effects are positive or negative. Sven Birkerts, a critic of electronic text, wrote the novel The Gutenberg Elegies to emphasize his negative viewpoint on technology.  He states, “The rate of change, social and technological, has surpassed exponentially the gradually escalating rates of previous periods” (214).  Everyone can agree with Birkerts’ assertion that technology is advancing because they have witnessed the advent of phones, music players, television, and other electronics during their lifetime.  The Internet in itself is a huge milestone, and, less than 20 years after its introduction to the public, phones can be used to access the Internet to check email, download music, and play games.  It is obvious that technology is constantly evolving and become more advanced, but is it changing too quickly?  While many can see both sides of the argument, electronic devices play too large of a role in modern life for society to ignore them.
Technology is a powerful tool that helps society advance and become more sophisticated.  Without it, the world would be quieter and incredibly less connected.  Many people cannot even imagine what life would be like without television, phones, and computers.  These devices allow faster, more convenient communication between people who may not even live on the same continent.  Information can be transmitted from place to place at the click of a button, allowing everyone in the world access to knowledge that they would not otherwise have.  Technology is extremely influential and has helped the human race achieve many goals, from non-invasive surgery to accurate weather predictions.  In a society where people always want things bigger, better, and faster, technology is an aspect of life that most people do not want to live without.
Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl demonstrates how rapidly technology has advanced in the past decade.  The Internet allows people to link to countless sites with just the click of a button and, while Patchwork Girl does this to some extent, it is much more limited than society is accustomed to.  The StorySpace program allows the user to navigate to different text boxes without having to follow the traditional line-by-line format that most novels use.  Jackson purposefully uses the program in order to try to intrigue the reader and give him/her a different type of reading experience.  Instead, its non-linear format confuses the audience and leaves them with no true sense of what the story is about.  While it may have been an exciting program to use when it first came out, those who utilize it now deem it limiting because they are so familiar with the Internet.  It is quite frustrating to read and comprehend because technology has progressed so much since it was published.  Still, many readers would rather read hypertext like Patchwork Girl as opposed to a traditional book because it is closer to the style of text that they are familiar with.  Even though Jackson’s text is somewhat limited in comparison to modern technologies such as the Internet, it is more interactive than reading a conventional novel page by page.
While many people adore hypertext, the Internet, and electronic devices, there are still a select few, like Birkerts, who are strongly opposed to society’s increasing dependence on technology.  There is a piece of technology to achieve almost any goal, and as long as there is access to that technology, people would rather use it than do things the old-fashioned way.  Birkerts is not keen on society’s dependence and believes that people are “wiring [themselves] into a gigantic hive” (219).  His point is valid in the sense that life is affected by technology is every aspect, whether it affects one’s everyday tasks, professional life, or social life.  However, what is wrong with taking the easy way out?  Math would be a million times harder without calculators; researching and writing papers for school would take much longer without computers.  Technological advancements occur continually, and there is a “steady displacement of old by new, a generational pressure that escalates, its momentum gathers and the members of the old dispensation age and die off” (214).  All new devices are improvements upon a previous idea or tool, making it easy for society to adapt to using the new appliance to replace an old one.  The only issue with newer and better products coming out is that the old products become useless.  For example, Apple has come out with the iPhone, a device that allows the user to listen to music, place phone calls, check email, and access the Internet.  Unfortunately, like Patchwork Girl and the StorySpace program, people who have the iPhone no longer have any use for their old, less sophisticated phones and music players.  StorySpace is an obsolete program just 13 years after it was published, thus causing the reader to wonder about its relevance in today’s society.
In a society that constantly craves more, there is no time for old, outdated technology.  Birkerts believes that things are progressing too quickly, as demonstrated by Patchwork Girl and the StorySpace program.  New technology builds upon old devices, causing the old tools to become obsolete.  The world is becoming more sophisticated with each passing day, but most people believe that the changes are positive.  Technology gives us access to information and the ability to achieve goals that we would not be able to reach otherwise.  As long as there is currently a machine to complete the task, there is no need for the old machine.

Works Cited:
Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1994.

Self Evaluation:
I believe that I took a unique approach to this paper.  I was having issues with organizing my thoughts, but I think I really pulled it off in terms of clarity.  I am extremely satisfied with this paper and my argument sounds put-together and mature when you read it out loud!

2nd draft for writing project 4

Rate of Change
Life is affected by technology in an infinite number of ways, but everyone has a different opinion about whether those effects are positive or negative. Sven Birkerts, a critic of electronic text, wrote the novel The Gutenberg Elegies to emphasize his negative viewpoint on technology.  He states, “The rate of change, social and technological, has surpassed exponentially the gradually escalating rates of previous periods.”  Everyone can agree with Birkerts’ assertion that technology is advancing because we have witnessed the advancement of phones, music players, television, and other electronics during our lifetime.  The Internet in itself is a huge milestone, and, less than 20 years after its introduction to the public, phones can be used to access the Internet to check email, download music, and play games.  It is obvious that society is constantly changing as a result of technology, but is it changing too quickly?
Technology is a powerful tool that helps society advance and become more sophisticated.  Without it, the world would be quieter and incredibly less connected.  Many people cannot even imagine what life would be like without television, phones, and computers.  These devices allow faster, more convenient communication between people who may not even live on the same continent.  Information can be transmitted from place to place at the click of a button, allowing everyone in the world access to knowledge that they would not otherwise have.  Technology is extremely influential and has helped the human race achieve many goals, from non-invasive surgery to accurate weather predictions.
While many people adore the Internet and utilize it everyday, there are still those, like Birkerts, who are strongly opposed to society’s increasing dependence on technology.  There is a piece of technology to achieve almost any goal, and as long as we have access to that technology, we would rather use it than do things the old-fashioned way.
Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl demonstrates how rapidly technology has advanced in the past decade.  The Internet allows people to link to countless sites with just the click of a button and, while Patchwork Girl does this to some extent, it is much more limited than society is accustomed to.  The StorySpace program allows the user to navigate to different text boxes without having to follow the traditional line-by-line format that most novels use.  Jackson purposefully uses the program in order to intrigue the reader and give him/her a different type of reading experience.  Instead, its non-linear format confuses the audience and leaves them with no true sense of what the story is about.  While it may have been an exciting program to use when it first came out, those who utilize it now deem it limiting because they are so familiar with the Internet.

“I see instead a steady displacement of old by new, a generational pressure that escalates, its momentum gathers as the members of the old dispensation age and die off.”

[I'm still working on the organization. I need to incorporate the last quote somewhere in the last unfinished paragraph. I still need a conclusion, also.]

paper 4

Rate of Change
“The rate of change, social and technological, has surpassed exponentially the gradually escalating rates of previous periods.”  Sven Birkerts, the author of The Gutenberg Elegies and a critic of electronic text, emphasizes how quickly our society is advancing.  Life is affected by technology in an infinite number of ways and everyone has a different opinion on whether those effects are positive or negative.  Everyone can agree on the fact that technology is advancing because it has happened during our lifetime and we have witnessed the advancement in phones, music players, and television.  The Internet in itself was a huge milestone, and less than 20 years after its introduction to the public people can use their phones to access the Internet to check their email, download music, and play games.  It is obvious that society is constantly changing as a result of technology, but is it changing too fast?
Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl demonstrates how quickly technology has advanced in the past 15 years.  The Internet allows people to link to countless sites with just the click of a button, and while Patchwork Girl does this to some extent, it is much more limited than society is accustomed to.  The StorySpace program allows the user to navigate to different text boxes without having to follow the traditional line-by-line format that most novels use.  Jackson purposefully uses the program in order to intrigue the reader and give him/her a different type of reading experience.  While it may have done that for people when it first came out, those who read it now find it more frustrating than intriguing.

compost for 11/14

I will be using Birkerts to refute the effectiveness of Patchwork Girl.

-pg 214 of GE:

“I see instead a steady displacement of old by new, a generational pressure that escalates, its momentum gathers as the members of te old dispensation age and die off.”

“The rate of change, social and technological, has surpassed exponentially the gradually escalating rates of previous periods.”

-pg 219 of GE:

“By degrees — it is happening year by year, appliance by appliance — we are wiring ourselves into a gigantic hive.”

Society is constantly changing as a result of technology, but is it changing too fast???

I’m not going to go into depth about the actual story of Patchwork Girl; I’m going to focus more on the StorySpace program and how things are set up. People are not satisfied with Patchwork Girl as a technological text. It was only published 15 years ago, but we’ve come so far in so few years that it seems archaic to us. We need more! PG is very limiting and only allows you to link to different parts of the text; we are used to being able to link to anywhere on the internet. The internet is a vast network of information that we surf and browse around every day. We are not used to having limits on where we can travel to and what information we can learn about. Our society constantly craves more; we want things faster and better than they were yesterday.

Is it really such a bad thing that we’re putting ourselves into this electronic “hive”?

What are some possible negatives about electronic dependency?

-human interaction has changed: it’s becoming less personal (less face-to-face interaction) but also much more convenient and easy to communicate with others (telephones, cellphones, AIM, video chat, etc)

-people are less productive

-increased dependence on technology (calculators are a good example for this)

Possible positives include:

-more convenient communication

-quick and effective ways of getting information

For example, I just searched the internet to find articles which state the positives and negatives of technology. It doesn’t get much easier than typing a few words in a search engine… =]

I’m thinking about looking more into the Domino Effect. Wikipedia’s definition- “The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence.”

glog for 11/07

On page 119 Birkerts says, “Many educators say that our students are less and less able to read, or analyze, or write with clarity and purpose. Who can blame the students?” His statement shows a dramatic change in tone and seems to contradict what he said earlier in the book. He seems much more understanding and empathetic of our generation at this point in the text. I agree with what he’s saying; it’s not our fault that we have not been correctly taught the way to analyze text and write effectively. It has got to be some sort of domino effect. Those generations who were so knowlegable, wrote such great novels, and understood how to analyze obviously did not know how to teach what they knew. Each generation after became successively worse than the generation before. Or maybe the generations became increasingly distracted and uninterested. Technology is very distracting, and paired with bad teachers, what do you expect? Patchwork Girl is a great example of the technology’s tendency to draw attention away from more important things. I’ve tried to navigate the program numerous times, and I still have not figured it out. I barely even remember what I read during my time with the program; my main focus was always on trying to figure out StorySpace. Also, it makes it even more confusing to me when Jackson throws StorySpace instructions into the text of the electronic “novel”. Now, I know that PG is somewhat of an exaggerated version of electronic text and that it is different and more foreign for most of us than internet navigation, but it really does make you realize how much different electronic text is from a good old printed novel.

I really like Birkert’s suggestion to imagine a time before TV. I don’t think that is something that many of us think about alot, if at all. What was the world like without computers, television, the metro, and cars? Well, just being in Chestertown for a couple months has made me realize how awesome the metro is, but I have never really considered the impact of electronics. Anyways, he suggests that we read a novel written during a time when there was no TV. He tells us to “move through the sequence of a character’s day and then juxtapose the images and sensations you find with those in the life of the average urban or suburban dweller today.” I think that would be a really interesting topic to read/write about. I don’t think we realize how different our lives would be if we grew up in a different time period. I, for one, don’t really think about stuff like that. I think we’re all kind of stuck in the here and now. We take things for granted and don’t let our minds wander. A little mind-wandering might do our generation some good.

As quoted from school superintendent Robert Calabrese in the Boston Globe, “You have to remember that the children of today have grown up with the visual media. They know no other way and we’re simply capitalizing on that to enhance learning.” Why do they want to make it easier for us? Yeah, yeah, we learn better that way; I’m not arguing with that at all, but why settle for incompetence in important areas such as reading and writing? It’s not our fault, but it is extremely unacceptable. Let’s face it, not all children love to read, but who’s to say that they wouldn’t love it if they were introduced to it in the right way?  Every once in a while teachers should let their students choose books that interest them. When reading is misconstrued to kids as a pasttime only for nerds and something that cannot be fun, they will never enjoy it.

Glog! on Halloween!!!

The medium by which the text is conveyed has a huge influence on the way the text is interpreted. I believe this is called “specificity of media”. As Hayles describes, a book is a “square with the sides and corners torn off”. While some people may not be able to get past the medium of a book, others absolutely cannot overlook the StorySpace program which Patchwork Girl opens with on the computer. While some may think that PG is “sophisticated and playful”, I respectfully DISAGREE! I think that the technology actually is, as Professor Meehan suggested in class, quite limited. The program was created a long time ago (a long time for me, at least), which was evident when the dialog box came up after I put the CD in. One of the folders available to open was the Mac OS Classic version. Now, I don’t know much about computer operating systems so I clicked on that folder. Another box came up telling me that I could not choose that option basically because Mac OS Classic is obsolete and the program would not work on the more sophisticated “Mac OS X Version 10.5.5″.

So, what would make this program easier? Why is it so confusing even though its such old technology? I think it just needs to be redone completely. I love Jackson’s idea of making text more interactive and interesting, but PG is a failure in my opinion. Technology has advanced so much in the last 15 years, making PG obsolete. A newer version with tutorials and better graphics would be awesome. We’re used to iPhones and Mac computers; we want something that’s user-friendly and does alot of cool shit! Maybe PG just doesn’t offer us enough things to do and places to go. It isn’t connected to the internet and has a clear end; there’s a definite point where you cannot go any further.

I think it’s funny that Hayles refers to us as “cyborgs”; It really is true. I feel lost and helpless without my cell phone, even when I’m with other people! And what would we do without computers and the internet?! I wouldn’t even be writing this assignment if we didn’t have any of that. Technology has been fully integrated into everyday life and there’s absolutely no turning back… unless, of course, there’s some major power outtage and all those satellites in space get out of whack. Don’t those satellites keep track of the time on earth somehow? WOULD WE EVEN HAVE TIME IF WE DIDN’T HAVE SATELLITES?! Maybe I just made that out of nowhere, but we most certainly would not know what the weather would be like in advance, and that would be terrible!!! HOW WOULD WE KNOW HOW TO DRESS OURSELVES?! Did I mention no TV, as well???

Writing Project 3- Final Draft: Creativity and Sound

Creativity and Sound

Creativity is an imperative component of all enjoyable films and novels because it engages the audience.  The human imagination is limitless, and no two people think in exactly the same manner.  Everyone has different ideas, morals, and experiences, causing each individual to interpret text in a manner that is unique to his own self.  The author of a novel inserts his own ingenuity into the novel when he writes it.  The reader then creates a distinct picture in his head and sometimes infers unwritten aspects of the story with a bit of prompting from the author.  What happens when one of those readers decides to create a film that conveys his personal interpretation of the story?  How can he get the audience to agree with his point of view?  In the film version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the director attempts to convey unusual concepts about the original novel to the viewers by way of sound, a technique that is exclusive to the film version of the text.

While immersed in a novel, the reader develops his own idea of what the setting and characters look like.  Imagination plays an important role in the way the story is interpreted.  Although everyone who reads Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is looking at the same words on the same pages, each person interprets the story in a different way.  While some may believe the book focuses on Victor and Elizabeth’s relationship, others think that it is mainly about the monster’s loneliness and seclusion; neither is wrong. When watching a movie, the entire audience is seeing and hearing the exact same thing.  There are intentional details that are placed in film that are meant to evoke certain emotions from the audience. Interpretation of film may be somewhat different for each individual, but it is much more uniform than a novel’s interpretation.  However, it becomes difficult for the audience to fully enjoy the story when it is converted to film because the director has creative input and changes certain aspects to make it better for the public.

Frankenstein looks at the storyline from the director’s perspective; it is one unique approach to the novel that the director wants everyone else to understand.   He has a distinct vision of the creation scene that he enhances using music and sound.  The soundtrack dramatizes the scene and enhances the audience’s reaction to the text.  Dramatic, orchestral music plays while Victor Frankenstein flips a series of switches and pushes the monster’s lifeless body around the room and into a large basin of amniotic fluid.  A variety of loud, energetic instruments continue to play while he sticks needles into the monster’s body, and the crackling of electricity is prominent as the scene comes to a climax.  Victor becomes excited because he thinks he has given the creature life, but there is silence when he looks in the basin and sees no movement.  Victor stares in silence at the seemingly lifeless monster through a small window, disappointed that he has wasted years of his life for nothing.  The camera is aimed at the window as Victor walks away, and a startling clash of symbols sounds as the monster’s hand hits the window.  Victor cries, “It’s alive,” and trumpets flare to convey the drama of the scene as the monster flings itself out of the amniotic fluid.  The director deliberately uses dramatic music and abrupt, loud sounds in the creation scene to persuade the audience to feel a certain way.  The viewers are not allowed to have creative input in the scene, a negative aspect of film that novel-readers do not enjoy.
When talking about text, it is very common to hear that the original novel is better than the movie; Frankenstein is an accurate example of this assertion.  Creativity is one of the most enjoyable parts in reading a novel, but that is taken away when viewing the film.  Music is used to intensify the viewer’s reaction to the film and is usually successful in making the audience feel a certain way; however, creativity, along with enjoyment, is subtracted from the equation.  So, did the director of Frankenstein get the audience to see the text from his abstract point of view?  Film makes people come to similar conclusions, so yes, he did achieve his goal, but he did so at the expense of the audience’s satisfaction.

writing project 3 as of oct 22

Creativity and Sound
Creativity is an imperative component of all enjoyable films and novels because it engages the audience.  The human imagination is limitless and no two people think in exactly the same manner.  Everyone has different ideas, morals, and experiences, causing each individual to interpret text in a manner that is unique to his own self.  The author of a novel inserts his own ingenuity into the novel when he writes it.  The reader then creates his own distinct picture in his head and sometimes infers unwritten aspects of the story with a bit of prompting from the author.  What, then, happens when one of those readers decides to create a film that conveys his personal interpretation of the story?  How can he get the audience to agree with his point of view?  In the film version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the director attempts to convey unusual concepts about the novel to the viewers by way of sound, a technique that is exclusive to the film version of the text.
While immersed in a novel, the reader develops his own idea of what the setting and characters look like.  Imagination plays an important role in the way the story is interpreted.  Even though every individual who reads Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is looking at the same words on the same pages, each person interprets the story in a different way.  While some may believe the book focuses on Victor and Elizabeth’s relationship, others might think that it is mainly about the monster’s loneliness and seclusion; neither is wrong.  There are many different aspects of the story that the audience can become interested in.

These are notes:
The use of music and sound in the film version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein helps dramatize the story and enhance the audience’s reaction to the text.  While reading a novel, the reader develops his own idea of what the setting and characters look like.  They have a creative part in the story.  When watching a movie, the entire audience is seeing the exact same thing.  Interpretation of the film may be different for each individual, but it is much more uniform than a novel’s interpretation.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein movie, for example, looks at the storyline from the director’s perspective; it is one unique approach to the novel that the director wants everyone else to understand.  Some movies may leave certain aspects up to the audience’s imagination, but for the most part the film makes people come to the same, if not similar, conclusions.
There is a lot of setup in a film which is meant to evoke certain emotions from the audience.  Dramatic music leads up to a scary scene and a loud, sudden noise sounds when something pops out of the shadows.  Watching a horror movie without sound is much less frightening than watching the same film with the volume turned all the way up.