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!