Blog 12

My final will explore the progression of storytelling. I am trying to showcase not only the development of how stories have been told throughout history but the remnants of how these stories have been told still exists. I really thought the pictographic part of this course was interesting and how I found, to a certain degree, pictographic language being used today. I want to explore the idea that even through it seems that everything is going digital there will always be remnants of the past. The overall development of how people tell stories and how some ways are more important to some individuals more so than others.

Bayer, Mary. "Saying Goodbye through Graffitti." The American Journal of Nursing 2nd ser. 80 (1980): 271. Print.

This article is an example of how symbols and pictures represent an abstract concept in our culture. As graffiti is used to say goodbye within this woman's life. I believe this can be used to showcase the development of storytelling within our culture and be compared to other culture in the past that used pictographs as their main language in regards to script.

Luskey-Barth, Amy. "The Power of Oral History Storytelling." Momentum 39 (2008): 39-41. Print.

As This article explores the importance of Oral storytelling I believe this could help put energy in my final paper. Showcasing how important and alive storytelling is and the impact, possibly, that written work has had on our culture. How some cultures still use oral storytelling heavily today.

Nathan, Stucky. "Performing Oral History: Storytelling and Pedagogy." Communication Education 44 (1995): 1-14. Print.

This article explores the potential of oral history. As my paper tries to showcase the progression of storytelling and what has and has not survived I find this article to be helpful. The different forms of telling a story and communicating--the interviews in this article I find to be helpful to showcase different opinion of others in recent times.

Xiaolei, Jing. "Readers Going Digital." Beijing Review 52.47 (1995): 44. Print.

As I am showing the progression of storytelling utimately I going to the concept stories are the same but the way they are told is different. With the Internet and information being transformed into a digital form I believe this article can help support my paper. Showing how books are going digital and the people who read them are turning to new technologies to read--or obtain stories.

Young, Jeffrey R. "In Case Google Bails Out on Its Library Project, Universities Creat a Backup." Chronicles of Higher Education 55.9 (2008): 9+. Print.

This is an interesting article how the biggest library ever is being created on the Internet. This is just another example of how items are going digital. Now even a place can be found digitally--libraries. This will help support my argument that and showcase different ways we gain information.

blog #11

I found something that was really interesting in this class was the fact that languages have evolved. From oral and pictographic storytelling to what we have now with an alphabetic system to form what we call literature. After reading multiple blogs when we were studying pictographic languages I thought it was fascinating all the different pictographic items we still use. Graffiti being very predominant in our lives and still can be seen almost anywhere really resonated with me. Showcasing symbols and pictures that clearly represent certain items. I think this can be said for tattoos too. When I see certain symbols tattooed on people sometime one can tell what they represent—this of course is in regards to the relationship with that person as well. For example I have a friend who is openly religious. They got a tattoo of an anchor—being a symbol of being strongly grounded into one’s faith. Reading a picture to know the meaning. With Graffiti I think it is interesting how symbols and in some cases pictures can represent “gang territories”. Even though our language is not a pictographic language we still have some residue of that in our culture. I spoke about how texting uses a form of pictographic language. With the use of certain characters and abstractions we can digitally convey emotions. This I find to be not only incredibly clever but necessary with the impact text messaging has on our everyday life—or at the very least my everyday life. With the ability to show not only tell what I am trying to convey through a phone in 140 characters is a huge advantage!

Overall I think it most interesting how we are evolving and remediating different items of our everyday life.

Blog #10 Proposal

I really am interested in the progression of how stories over the year have been told. Looking at the beginning of the year and oral traditions and how it then advanced to becoming novels with the printing press. Now oral traditions and stories are said to be “lost” and I was wondering since the digital age will it progress to stories not being valid if it isn’t digital. Why would and why would it not be? How does the digital age affect how we see stories and if we can trust them more that they are the Internet or less.

Blog #9

Has the book suffered in regards to the Internet and the ability for a book’s context to be available within seconds? With the ability to download a book and its contexts—will the traditional print book continue to feel the strain or is there a strain on it at all.

With the ability to have a books context within seconds due to EBooks and finding it through a search engine or torrent—that those regards, yes the book has become less important for me to buy. The print book has suffered. With new technologies such as the Kindle, Nook, and IPad the print book in my opinion has suffered. However, I believe the context of a book has also suffered as well. People can get the gist of a book under five minutes with the help of the Internet. With blogs and Sparknotes someone can get a pretty good idea of what a book is about and how it ends with the help of these items. Again I believe the book not only in print but contextually have suffered.

Even though the book is feeling the strain of new technologies I think there will always be the print book in demand. The nostalgic aspect of a print book I don’t believe will ever feel the strain of technologies. There is still something about having a book in your hands and flipping the pages could not be digitally recreated. Not to mention the smell that books have—that old stiff smell. Though this can’t be hindered with the motive to buy a print has. With the convenience of the Internet a book and the context of a book will continue to be strained.

Blog #8

Text online can be circulated so much easier than a physical form of the text such as a book or magazine. With search engines such as Google and Yahoo it is at the touch of a button to find whatever text you could want. Not only is it easy to find the text you want or need to read, but there are now online libraries. Washington

State University uses an online library system where one can find academic articles online. This is different than having a print form because with print form only one person at a time could read it. With the digital age and having text online multiple people can utilize it and benefit it.

In Darnton's communication circuit the reader has slightly changed from what the reader has been in previous times. A more contemporary outlook on the reader is that the reader does not need to leave home to do gain access to the text. With academic and online books being available it is not necessary for someone to be a purchaser in regards to going out and actually buying an item. The reader can also now be a just a reader and not a purchaser. For example an online library not only allows this but it can benefit more than one person at a time. This is much more contemporary in term of gaining text.

Blog #7

When I think of something that has impacted my culture I immediately think of 9/11 and what 9/11 means to me. I was too young (sixth grade) to take in account if I ever really noticed the date 9/11 but I don’t think it meant anything to me. I doubt if that date meant anything to my parents or grandparents. However, now it means a great deal and I relate it to being a day of mourning/patriotic pride/remembrance. When I hear someone say “9/11” I think of the image of the plane hitting the buildings, images of firefights and ground zero come to mind. If the terrorist attack had never happened I would have a completely different outlook on the phrase “9/11”. As many of my peers say “Post 9/11” or “Before 9/11” it seemed to be the new hip way to date something—in replace of “B.C. or A.D.”

In retrospect hearing the phrase would have drastically changed in the event itself had not happened. However, visually seeing 9-11 or different variations of those numbers I would relate it back to the police. Since I was young in my elementary schools in the bathrooms and offices there were signs with a police officer and the phone number 911. This poster was to reassure a child to call for help if they needed it. 911 meant the police for me when I was it visually but it does not do that anymore. Instead when I see those numbers I think of current issues still affecting our country. I see the debates happening about the mosque being built at ground zero or the images of the terrorist attack that I remember watching on the news when I was younger. This symbol has changed drastically for me. Before the attack it meant help or police. Now post the attack it means controversial issues and a historically tragic date in American history.

I guess this isn’t a symbol or phrase that IF it had changed it would have revolutionized what I previously thought but it DID change over time. Not even over a long period of time but within a week of the attack 911 was not just a number to call for help or a day in September it was---An attack on my country, a date in history. As Crain says “the child is similarly the medium through which the alphabet permeates the culture” (pg. 56). I hate to be cliché but children are the future. As I said previously before a new phrase as come into popular slang. “Pre 9/11 or Post 9/11” when someone is trying to date something or call something old. I wonder if 911 will ever be strictly associated with the number for emergencies. I don’t believe it will. I think with it being used for slang and since it is still heavy in the media I would argue that generations after mine will associate that number sequence with the terrorist attack and the aftermath of it than a number to call in case of emergencies. Each generation has there own subculture, slang, trends and events that establish them. Mine I think has a small impact on American culture in regards to how the younger generation absorbs current events and how we speak about them.

Looking at maps I already have a preconceived notion of what I am going to see. This is because I have been exposed to maps since kindergarten. My most memorable map would be maps of states. For example I this Nevada map the counties of Nevada. I would not have normally expected to see counties but rather I would see cities. When I was younger and even now I expect to see cities; Las Vegas and Reno. Maps like this are helpful too. My county usually has flashflood warnings and I think it would be helpful on a road trip to know if you were in a county that was having weather warnings. “The history of the map is inextricably linked to the rise of the nation-state in the modern world. Manu of the printed maps of Europe emphasized the estates, waterways, and political boundaries that constituted the politico economic dimensions of European geography” (Laxton 59). As seen in this map boundaries are made but not in states but in counties. I see this as political boundaries as well within the state. Different counties will have different regulations and school districts. This is interesting to see how maps have evolved over time.

Blog #6

After reading the articles for this week it just reminded me of high school when gathering information meant going to the library. I would go into the library grab the books I need and be on my way of having credited papers. However, now I find myself searching on online libraries to find the perfect academic journal. Since it is within, usually WSU, online library system I find it to still be creditable. This is not true if I only search online. All the text and print articles out there give their readers no insight of how if in fact the text is recent, truthful or just an opinion piece. As John was discussing in his article print was sometime misprinted or copied differently from the original. This is interesting because I feel that this can be related back to our era of the digital age. We have the freedom now to print or write anything and have it out in the digital world. I found this similar because now information such as academic articles can be re-printed and morphed by anyone. The Internet allows someone to morph text and in turn loose its credibility.

In the sense of fixity and the digital age it is not always a good thing. This is a difference from the printing age and the digital age. Once something is one the Internet it is in theory there forever. Anyone can put context out into the digital world and then this context can be transformed into something similar or completely new. This is not always desired and in turn can be an unhelpful way of getting information out into the world. Again going back to the idea that getting information online is not always the safest. I knew in high school my sources were creditable but now it is harder to know if the information one gets from the Internet is creditable or not. Luckily online libraries and academic journal websites are out there and easily accessible to those who seek that kind of information.

blog 4

When reading this I couldn’t stop thinking about texting. I can text people multiple forms of combinations of numbers and letters which for turns into not a symbol but a meaning. For example “< style="mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Verdana; color:#15140F">Drucker and McGann’s article stated “physicality of textual marks and shapes disappear in an act of reading determined to highlight certain kinds of conceptual references (content)." Texting is a fast way to communicate but it limits how much you can say at once. I find it helpful and necessary to have a sub category of “text words” to sum up everything in something short. For example feelings and getting them across to the other person you are texting. When in person this is easy; facial feature, body language and the tone of your voice can get a point across. However when silent and limited to a small phone screen this is proven a lot more difficult. Hence the facial icons. These little shapes, lines, letters and numbers put together create whole emotions, concepts and ideas. Take a “: )” this can mean more than a circle, two dots and a line. This simply transforms into the concept of being sad, mourning, upset ect…I believe this is an example of how we as readers see these images we don’t see them for the symbols they are but for what they represent. The basic or actually huge emotional land they cover. I personally am a huge texter (who isn’t now-a-days) and when I get a “: )” or a “<>

Blog 3

While reading both the pieces for this week it really got me thinking about how writing, sounds and language are all connected. It never occurred to me that my language and how I express myself was an invention. That a language and how people communicate with each other is not natural, but a highly thought out complicated system that has evolved with time. “writing has transformed human consciousness.” (Ong). I agree fully with this statement writing has transformed how humans think and perceive the world around them. For example I found if very interesting when Ong spoke about oral storytelling verse writing stories down for documentation. It made me think about how I relate to the word literature. When I say this word, literature, I hardly ever if not at all, think about oral storytelling but written literature. However these two forms of communication are so closely related to each other that it reminds me of the old question, “What came first the chicken or the egg?” It seems to be a paradox in some cases. Not only how communication came about weather something originated as written literature to oral but how it incorporated so many of our senses and abilities. Seeing, hearing and vocalizing ideas to communicate to one another what is going on inside our minds. As Ong discusses people need other outlets of language to fully grasp concepts. That we need more than sound but visual representation of words as well. This I find to be very true relating back to my life. It has been a long and slow process of trying to master a different language. I can’t imagine trying to learn, in my case Spanish, without having visual representation to help me along the way. Again as Ong said before “writing has transformed human consciousness.” Relating this back to me, it has made how I consciously view the world. How I think and learn when trying to communicate in a language that I was born into or to a language I am trying to master. The invention of writing and the creation of an alphabet is an extraordinary invention. It allowed the human populations communicate with one another and archive while we do so.

Blog 2

As I was reading this article I was wondering how I felt about oral stories verses writing literature. Also what is literature? I then tried to make connections from oral stories and written literature and how this is a form of remediation. In the readings it discussed how certain cultures such as the Sioux is more found of oral story telling. Within our culture I think, being a woman brings a sub-culture. When I was younger I clearly remember telling stories to my friends. Most of which were girls and were sworn to stay silent by the finger promise. I did this and other little girls did as well. I did this until I received my first diary. I believe this is a form of remediation within my social little girl culture. Refraining from telling stories to my classmates and now keeping them private and in a journal. The feeling of “expression” has been modified to a different form. Now instead of expressing to another person who holds your story it is in written form. It is exactly how you intended it to be. Unlike when it is concealed with another person they have the ability to morph what was told. As discussed in “The Orality of Language” people do not have the ability to clearly get a grasp of an oral story. I found this within my life to be true so I then moved to keeping a diary.

LandEscapes!

LandEscapes, WSU's literary and arts journal, is now accepting works of art, photography, music, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, screenplays, short films, graphic novels, or mixed-genre pieces from WSU students.

Send your submissions as attachments to LandEscapes@gmx.com.

All art and photography submissions must be high resolution.

The priority deadline is Monday, November 8, 2010.

Submit today!

Blog #1

My object or rather concept is meeting someone to discuss—anything really. In former times before the greatest innovations where spread around and adopted by the public, people would have to go to a meeting to meet with someone. Now it is a little different. It has been reformed. For example and my object to discuss in this blog will be Skype. In class we discussed how certain items would be an extension of ourselves. I believe the example was a hammer. Who knows if I’m being a cliché college student and looking to deep into this but I think I can argue that Skype is an extension of us as well. We are extended in 2D form miles away from where we actually are. Someone else can see the ideas, questions and statements along with body language. I believe transferring body language across miles of space is extraordinary. The reality of having someone in the room with you that isn’t actually there can in theory generate the same emotions as if they actually where in the room. The lack of physical touch is lost but the emotional connection of having someone their and seeing their reactions have the possibility to be the same emotion. “They are not striving for the real in any metaphorical sense.” (Bolter and Grusin). Skype is not the real person in some abstract comparison but it is a live video feed of someone you know and can interact with. Well hopefully you know, cause that would just get weird. Skype is also independent is the sense that it allows one to be independent and openly speak about whatever someone so chooses. With most new technology it derived from an idea to make our lives easier. How can we make an extension of ourselves to ease our grief in doing so. Now we can have a face-to-face conversation with someone without even leaving our living rooms. Hell, we can have a face-to-face conversation with Julie even!

Hello DTC 375

Hello DTC class my name is Simmone! I am stoked for this class and the awesome fact that it is online. I don't know about anyone else but if I can sleep in or not walk my fat ass to campus I'm so down. Well best of luck to everyone and see you all dead week!