paper 4

Why do I write you ask? I write because there are constantly too many thoughts going on in my head for me to handle. I need to release them, see the words to make sense of them. Once they are written, my head doesn’t have to worry about remembering them. I can go back and focus on different thoughts at any time. Writing has become a library for my brain; stacks and stacks of documentation. That’s all my writing really is: my thoughts. Writing them has led to even greater ideas and connections that I’m sure I would have never been able to achieve before. There is so much running through my mind at all times that it can be overwhelming, especially because I’m the type of person that cannot let things go.

I want nothing more than for people to see things the way I see them. Joan Didion also feels this way about her writing and explains in her essay, “Why I Write” that, “In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind.”(Didion 1). I have all of these strong feelings and opinions and I want others to look at and hear what I have to say and hopefully, agree with me. Nothing is simple and everything matters; every little detail of every little thing can cause a great impact. I truly believe that the smallest change, such as whether or not it is pouring rain outside, can affect everything and everyone. Didion is right when she claims, “Let me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.” (Didion 4). We may not have all the answers but that is why we write in the first place, to find answers. Over-analyzing these small things around me is what causes my need to write. Eventually, those thoughts turn into stories and those stories turn into scripts, and those scripts turn into TV shows and movies. But none of those things would be possible without something so simple: sentences. 

A sentence starts out like...a seed on the ground, but not one that has been carefully planted. Instead, one that has been blown to the ground by the wind and just hopes to be picked up by the Earth's arms and formed into a full blown flower. It has no control of where it will end up but wants to be meaningful and beautiful. The seed then becomes a planted idea and continues to grow. It may need to overcome obstacles its environment will throw its way, like storms and animals, trying to stop its development. Turning into a flower will be the seed’s end of the journey until another seed from the flower falls off and starts its own journey to be significant.

Advice for those of you just starting that journey? You have to stop being scared. Stop worrying about who will or will not like what you have to say. You need to be able to believe in your ideas and opinions so that others can too. Build something that you love by writing every thought you have down. It does not matter how stupid or pretentious you may feel at the moment because it’s what is truly going on in your head. To be a great writer, to be able to push meaning out of your ideas, you need to understand the way that you think, and in order to understand your thoughts, you need to first accept them.

And maybe you think you already do understand, but I think you’re wrong. You have definitely tried to hide certain thoughts about life, death, love, etcetera out of shame.  We all do, but that is the line; the fenced in walls that prevent great words from coming together to make something important. Some advice for those who just started writing? Break down the walls you build around yourself and learn how to just be you.  Your writing will follow your lead in risking the judgement and rejection. 

I’m a writer and I don’t mean I write essays and assignments for classes because I’m being forced to. I mean I write to create something worthwhile. I do it for myself and I couldn’t care less about all those teachers and professors throughout my life who have told me that I cannot write. They’re wrong. I wouldn’t have made it this far in my life if I wasn’t a writer. My scripts wouldn’t transcribe to film and TV and the great communication and relationships that I have between my friends and family would not exist. That’s why I am going to push aside all those who ever told me that I wasn’t good enough. Watch me prove you wrong.

Works Cited:

1. Didion, Joan. Why I Write. 5 December 1976. New York Times Book Review. May 8th, 2011.

Presentation Reflection: Chapter 6

Our presentation on chapter 6 "Refashioned Dialogues" presented was clear and easy to follow. Communication, dialogue specifically, is always changing and growing with technology. Digital text has changed the way we speak with one another and our presentation had a strong emphasis on that.
We wanted to take a light humorous approach to prove some of the points we made. I think this was an effective way to make the subject more relatable and not boring. An example of this would be when we used the Movie poster from Hoodwinked. This may have started out as a joke to us because Bolter used a word like hoodwinked and it was the only thing that caught our attention on that specific page, but then we found this movie. Learning about how this movie was collaborated from classic fairytale characters made it have actual relevance to our presentation. It related to how fairytales used to be spoken orally and how stories have changed in dialogue to printed text to digital text. I think it helped the class pay attention and want to listen. We also used different mediums to communicate the chapter, visually stimulating the class.


An image of a New York Times newspaper and a tablet with the same New York Times edition showed how digital text is trying to copy the look of printed text and even how print text is trying to look more digital. We were asked why we thought that was happening and my response was because of commercialism and money. People who would prefer a digital form of text are more likely to buy a printed text that looks like digital text because it appeals to them and their needs. More and more books and newspapers are trying to look like eBooks and webpages. The same thing has been happening with websites and blogs trying to replicate books, notebooks, and physical paper. We chose the two productions of Taylor Mali's poem because it really showed the difference of communication between visually watching him speak the words and visually watching the words as he said them. We used a bunch of other images to similarly support our points.



If I could have changed anything about the presentation, I would have allotted more time to relate Bolter's chapter to even more modern day changes in dialogue. If we could have incorporated text messages and Instant messengers like AIM, facebook chat and gchat, we could have related how dialogue changes to each and everyone firsthand.
Text messaging has changed dialogue and the way we communicate forever and I feel like it would have brought on a million more points with Bolter's chapter about refashioned dialogues. Short hands, incorrect grammar and many other issues within our language becomes apparent when looking at text messages. These can be seen as obstacles to text remediating to digital forms and it would have been interesting to hear what the rest of the class had to say about it.

Paper 3

This is not new news. I could have predicted this. You could have predicted this. My ten year old cousin could have predicted this. That man who held the door open for you this morning could have predicted this. Writing is constantly changing. It does not take an expert scholar to figure that out. It is just common knowledge for anyone who is observant of their society and it’s surroundings. The materiality of writing has always been changing. So people used to write with sticks and now we type everything onto computers and word processors; just because the way we output text has changed does not mean the text is different. The text is still just words and words need to evolve with whoever is using them. It is completely logical for writing to be adapted into digital forms today. Our language evolves with these texts, creating new means of communication and forming dialogues within these texts. Connections that would have been impossible ten years ago are now second nature between writers and readers and print text and digital text.

Comparing printed books, magazines and newspapers to tablets and blogs and ebooks has become tiresome. Again, they are all the same words, they are just in different formats. It can be brought down to about two main different factors: mediums of communicating and distributing information to keep up with the latest technology available and personal preference of how exactly people want to communicate and distribute that information. 

Preference can become reliant on a generation’s way of thinking. The past twenty-five to thirty years have been full in the digital age but what about people who were born before all this technology and digital text was at our fingertips for easy access? People like what they know. So, maybe my Dad would rather hold a newspaper than read newspaper articles online or on a kindle like device. There is no difference in the text and it just comes down to plain and simple preference. Don’t get me wrong, I love technology. I would not be able to go through one day without it and my entire future and career rely on it, like most people today, no matter who they are or what their job is. But, why are we so concerned about loosing printed text? If enough people want printed texts and find proficient and appropriate use for them, they will not be eliminated completely. History may prove that technology overpowers most things. “Going digital” is usually the easiest, fastest, most efficient way to get whatever you need done. However, books have been around for so many years that it would be unthinkable to try to actually get rid of them instead of replace them. 

The different mediums of text today is never-ending. Between computers and tablets, which are the next best thing for digital text, options for finding texts are vast. Kindles, iPads, Moto Xooms, and more are being released to house ebooks and web capabilities that obviously uncover the endless texts on the web. Digital text enhances communication between all humans and is the most efficient way of sharing information. It is instantaneous and either free or much cheaper than a book. Today, institutions have taken advantage of the technology available to them, enhancing classroom and learning settings for students. Tools such as smart boards are being used with children as young as Kindergarteners. This gives them a favorable position in learning new technology, and for this kind of technology to become instinctual to them. Now children are growing up with an advantage in and out of the classroom. Bolter agrees that, blogs and virtual classrooms, originally based off of chat rooms and forums create a positive learning environment for students because they can interact while in class and/or outside of class, such as in their dorms, complimenting face to face discussion in the classroom (114). Examples of these types of online classrooms can range from things as simple as blogs or closed message threads to websites that allow students to post video, text, pictures, links and more, an example being voicethread.com. 

It is inevitable for the way we use words to change when the space those words are in changes. Jay David Bolter dedicates an entire chapter to talk about “Refashioned Dialogues” in his book, Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. That is irony at its best: A man spends his time writing two hundred or so pages about how print is outdated and digital text is taking over, and then prints it in a book. The best part is that this is the Second Edition of this book which means that Bolter has printed two books about how printed text is being transformed into digital text. Although digital dialogues are not as structured as a book and can seem as if they are all over the place, digital dialogues create bridges and paths to conversations that would not be possible with a printed text. As Bolter explains, "A written text is a structure in space that also implies a structure in time...When a reader is reading a novel or an essay, the words create a rhythm of expectations" (99). You cannot have a conversation with the author of a book by writing notes on the pages, but you can comment on blogs and some authors even publish full essays and even novels online now. With tablets that let you read ebooks on them like the kindle, you can comment on anything publicly and then other readers of that same text can answer your comments and questions. Dialogue between the reader and writer, between readers and different types of media, and between audio and visual texts have recently changed the most. Conversations about anything imaginable are possible because of the web. Hypertext enables people to add on to any text imaginable and as Bolter explains it, “If hypertext could remediate the voice of the text it might suggest a return to oral forms such as dialogue” (112). Publishing text online is as easy as one click. These started with ideas as simple as chat rooms or MOOs, allowing people to communicate with others at any time, but now the have developed into full interactive blogs, ebooks, and webpages that are connecting people throughout the world. The internet opens up an entire new world that, “allows individuals not only to represent themselves in words and images, but also to publish these representations to an audience of million at almost no expense” (119).

Bolter seems concerned about having an option as a reader to choose your own path when reading a text. There are many books that can make you jump around and pick your own ending or path within the story. Bolter describes why it is so important to have these paths by comparing reading to choosing which path to take. "To read is to follow one path from among those suggested by the layout of the text...The codex and the printed book both allow the writer to suggest many paths throughout the same book" (100). However, hypertext similarly, if not in a better way can create an ongoing path or journey for the reader by just browsing the web through links. You may start out looking for one thing but after a few clicks, you could have travelled far from your original path, sometimes discovering great new things by just one simple click.

In conclusion, the way people communicate words is always going to change. These changes will occur slowly and over large periods of time but from rocks to paper to computers, text has progressed greatly throughout human history. Who knows what will be next after computers and tablets. Perhaps one day, we will be able to record text in mid air with our very own fingers. No writing space, no writing utensil, just our hands.

Works Cited:

1. Bolter, David Jay. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 2001. Second Edition. (p. 99-120) April 26th, 2011.

Bolter Chapter 4

The presentation consisted of quotes from the chapter along with opinions of the group members. They talked about how words and images are contained by the verbal text. A history of text and picture writing, which is the first language and communication between people that was documented was presented.

One of their main points was that words should be seen and not just read. Along with this they talked about Bolter's use of Ekphrasis which is trying to make words do what pictures do.

They talked about how text and images have changed from picture writing to MOOs (Multi Object Oriented) that capture pictures and words through chat rooms. There were also MUDs - Multi User Domain or Discussion -another chat room before blogs and the internet became so diverse with anything and everything imaginable.


1. Can images replace all words?
2. Are words able to capture what images reflect and vise-versa?
3. Why do you think printed texts are trying to look more like digital forms of text?
4. Picture writing was the start of communication, why do you think that language was created in text instead of images?
5. When Bolter says words should be seen and not just read do you think he meant words should be presented by images or that we should just see the text instead of having it said out loud?
6. Is ekphrasis successful when it comes to trying to relay a strong message?

Chapter 6: Refashioned Dialogues

http://prezi.com/an_qfpsnoaey/refashioned-dialogues/

Bolter Chapter 3?

For each chapter you need these 3 parts in the blog post:

1.short summary...content and layout...strengths and weaknesses representing meaning and info

2. presenter's main points from bolter and other materials. what's the argument/point?

3. six questions

Then go to four blogs and answer one of their questions each.



This group had a very text oriented presentation with only some visual aides to the moving text in the prezi. They made sure to give their opinion also which I think made the presentation stronger. They talked about unitary symbols (letters or symbols) and how they relate to each other. They made the point that you can think about a single topic and get it to be universally understood through symbols so that everyone can relate to that topic.

Some of their main points were that topics exist in a space that is a visual surface but also a data structure of a computer and how that originated from the word topos which means "method of thought". Connecting existent texts like journals and books is used to connect the subject you're focussing on to your topic. They talked about the difference of word processors and printed text. Nothing is permanent in a word processor and it is convenient, faster, efficient, and fluid.

Hypertext and the remediation of print was touched upon but focussed on different paths of meaning for the author and for the reader. One of their arguments was that online text is overwhelming. Hypertext narrows down a path that you take to get information. Bolter's concern is that there is too much information that people won't be able to learn or absorb it. Also he is concerned that we won't be able to separate true and false data. -Remediation of text redefines cultural values and can represent homage and rivalry.




1. Why are topics less successful in print form?
2. Does the impermanence of digital writing create infinite limits to that writing, letting it change at any time?
3. Why do hypertext links create more efficient paths than an adventure book for example?
4. Is it not possible for printed texts to create universally understood symbols to explore topics?
5. If online text is overwhelming, doesn't hypertext create even more chaos because it is offering even more links than you already had?
6. Do you think people who participated in Week Without the Web here at Hofstra had a better feeling of how much digital text connects our society?

Writing My Heart Out Without Seeing What I'm typing...Just A Black Screen and Words That Should Not Have Been Said

There are so many instances that I said or wrote something and regretted it later. The moments that stand out in my mind that I have said or written something I wish I hadn't are all due to me trusting people with personal information or feelings when I should have known better and just kept them to myself. People like to pretend though, having false pretenses about their intentions and friendships. You would think that someone you have known since you were six years old was someone that you could trust, but no. They didn't care about me or my feelings they just wanted to something good to talk about and use me like a gossip story like they did with everyone else they knew. So I regret telling them anything, and that's a lot. It's not like I said something mean to someone by accident or wish my Mom didn't overhear something I said. I wish that I can take back the truth I unleashed to those I saw as friends and I wish that I hadn't just let them know these things without being the slightest bit reluctant. But as much as I regret saying those things and sharing words that should have just been kept private, I can't help but think that I did myself a favor. How else would I have learned that certain people were not to be trusted? I would be stuck in the same rut that I was one year ago and so, although a part of me regrets those words, a part of me is thankful to myself for taking a situation that is quite unfortunate and seeing the positive influence it has had and will have on my life. So I went through some rough things like loosing close friends and finding out that they were not really being a friend. I think that it was worth my regret to be able to move forward to better things and people in my life.

How does this electronic space refashion its predecessor? How does it claim to improve on print's ability to make our thoughts visible and to constitute the lines of communication for our society?

Digital writing and mediums such as Microsoft word and apple's equivalent, pages changes the actual space that is being written in. When these processors were first invented, it was amazing that you could grab certain text and copy and paste it other places or rearrange the order of your words, sentences, and even full paragraphs. It improves the organization of our thoughts because we are able to go back and perfect the way our words come together to express whatever we are trying to communicate through the writing. This creates a better way of communication through writing within our society.

Bolter Ch. 2

          In chapter 2, Bolter focuses on defining technology and writing together. He wanted to make sure it was understood that writing is always changing but that there are underlying things about writing that technology could never really change. No matter what decade it is, "The writer always needs a surface on which to make his or her marks and a tool with which to make them, and these materials become part of the contemporary definition of writing"(Bolter 15,16). Bolter makes it clear that writing has developed throughout history through different means of technology from a printing press or Linotype machine to electric presses and computers. He explains how it requires different skills to writing with quill and parchment than to writing with a printing press than to write with a computer. Yet he finds a way to bring them together by claiming that, "all writing entails method, the intention of the writer [is] to arrange verbal ideas in a space for later examination by a reader"(16).

Sample S refute

Cliche images do not control the viewer's thoughts, but help lead them through the argument that is being stated. There is alway more than one way to send a message through an image so relying on a cliche visual is a conscious decision made by the author. I see it as the easy way out, the most reliable images are ones that you know a majority of your viewers will recognize and relate to what you are trying to say instead of loosing your main points. Whether an argument is simple or complicated does not matter in deciding to use cliche images. Hope can be expressed in an endless amount of ways and the choice to use an image such as a rainbow is an artistic opinion that clearly works because when the author thought of how to express hope after destruction of rain, they thought of a rainbow. The probability that your viewer will also make that connection is very high because it is something that everyone is aware of and it seems like it was the only positive image in the production according to the way the author talked about rain and destruction.  

Ink-shedding on "Stitch Bitch"

"Hypertext blurs the distinction between subject and object, matter and the absence of matter."

Hypertext enables a reader to interpret the meaning of the text they are reading, whichever way they would like causing a "blur" in the actual meaning of the text. Because of this, the reader has more control over what they are reading. They get to choose the meaning of the text and with hypertext it becomes difficult to distinguish between what the author is saying and what they are referencing. Through hypertext, different ideas can be brought together, crossing certain lines that were once looked down upon if crossed, therefore causing a blur between the subject of the text and the objective of the text.

Reading Quiz on Wednesday:  Prepare 6 - 10 bullet points on Bolter, ch. 1 for use in planning a prezi.  You might want to familiarize yourself further with prezi at prezi.com.

• text mediums have been changing since the stone age
• all kinds of communication are becoming digital and rely on computers
• writing for digital mediums may result in careless writing
• we as authors and readers still turn to books to find the most powerful and respected texts
• the late age of print is a transformation of the way we feel and use technology --> books and other printed texts in the late age of print are still common and enjoyable but they have a rival in the electronic world
• electronic writing is similar to printing as far as mechanically and accuracy are concerned, similar to handwriting because it is natural and evolutionary, and similar to hieroglyphics and picture writing because has a wide range visually

Bolter Ch.1

          Most of what Bolter had to say about the evolution of print is pretty obviously known. Like Bolter explained, the way text has been communicated throughout history has constantly changed from writing on stones to writing with ink on animal hyde to paper. Books were an innovation of their own time and, "Now, however, the distinction between lasting texts and pragmatic communication has broken down, and all kinds of communication are being digitized" (Bolter 2).
          Abnormal discourse can be productive because it is helping ideas be developed. Personally, when I'm given no direction whatsoever it is much more difficult for me to write something or come up with an idea or even just focus on doing an assignment than it is if I had some structure and direction. Guidelines help narrow the thinking process down. Otherwise I think too greatly, and have more difficulty creating something of substance. It's more productive to have some direction and goal in mind so abnormal discourse is definitely productive. Looking at this in connection to other points Bolter made, I see that abnormal discourse could possibly come in handy when dealing with the medium that you are writing with. Bolter talks about how, "The shift to the computer may make writing more flexible, but it also threatens the definition of good writing and careful reading that have developed in association with the technique of printing" (Bolter 4).

Stitch Bitch Response

BANISHED BODY
"It's not what we wish it were."
I'm easily confused by this writing style because the author contradicts what they're saying constantly to prove their arguments. What I took away from this section was that "the body" is something that we wish we could control but in reality have little control over it. It's constantly changing and it is in between being an object and a thought. The author refers to it as "the monkey in the middle" and that makes me envision a struggle between becoming a solid object or becoming a lucid thought. It is easily influenced by what surrounds it and comes in the form of a story or in smell and sight along with happiness and pain. 

"Its face is a collage of stories, borrowed images, superstitions, fantasies. We have no idea what it "really" looks like." This section ends by using the metaphor of a body-bag and how, like most junkyards, it holds the garbage, the stories, that will never be told.

REALITY FICTION
"It's not what it says it is."
Why does reality conquer over fiction? That doesn't seem right. Reality is a type of fiction. It shouldn't overpower it. Fiction can be many different categories and they each have their own standards and laws. 
Reality thinks it "includes" fiction, that fictional works are embedded in reality. It's the boast of a bully. But just "Every fictional world competes with the real one to some extent, but hypertext gives us the chance to sneak up on reality from inside fiction." It can be subtle by including links to non-fictional works which makes hypertext fiction create a separate text of reality in a fictional world. Reality relies on the feeling of security, like home. But as the author argues, "By writing we test the seams, pick out the stitches, trying to stretch the gaps between things to slip out through them into some uncharted space, or to let something spring up in the real that we don't already know, something unfamiliar, not part of the family, a changeling" so writers try to take reality and stretch it, distort it slightly to fit their needs and create realities that we may have never experienced but could encounter some day.

Four Letter Word Project

I keep getting and error when uploading. putting it on vimeo.

I wish I had more time to do this.

http://vimeo.com/20836198 

          For my visual four letter word argument, I chose the word risk. I wanted to start with images that showed literal meaning of risk and then transition into more specific examples that would support my argument: To achieve something great, you need to take a risk. I used a variety of examples to prove my claim such as: being a performer whether a dancer or a musician, or putting your heart on the line, more specifically proposing to someone, or choosing the right path to take to reach your goals. Images were grouped into categories of ways risk ends positively. Risking your life, risking your heart, risking your career, risking your art, and even risking your mind. 

I used Final-Cut Pro to edit it.

Taylor Mali

Blog this:  How does the form of the poem affect your apprehension and appreciation for it?


I watched the video that was all graphic design and animated text over the audio of Taylor Mali reading the poem. So when I watched the video of him actually performing it, I did not get the same impact. It was more effective for me to see the words while he was saying them. The animated text took initiative to help tell the story within the poem and was designed appropriately to exaggerate and push forward Mali's points. One part sticks out in my mind. When he asks "Where are the limbs at which we once walked" small foot-print like images surround the words that now resemble branches of a tree and the foot-prints look like leaves and as Mali speaks the words "chopped down" the tree is hit by the word chopped and falls to it's side. Creating visuals through text is an art form that I value because it is difficult but it can create such great meaning.

"The Problem of Describing Trees"

"And the tree danced. No.
The tree capitalized.
No. There are limits to saying,
In language, what the tree did."

It is very obvious that Robert Hass, the writer of this poem, finds it difficult to write what he saw from the tree's action in reality. He doesn't see how he could possibly describe the tree in a significant way. He says the tree danced and right away I see a trees branches swaying in the wind, slightly melodically, with a certain rhythm to it. But right away Hass takes it back and replaces danced with capitalized. This is so strange to me. Why would he use capitalized to describe the tree? Is the tree risking something to gain an advantage? Is the wind causing the tree to risk it's life because it is so windy that the tree could fall down or lose branches? Maybe that's it, and maybe the positive thing that the tree gained was  the beauty of it's leaves glistening in the sun because of the wind. But no, it doesn't make sense because it doesn't justify what the tree is doing and that's his point exactly.

3 images from a painful glimpse into my writing process - chel white

The heart and knives were very memorable. The image of just his heart pounding had an intense feeling attached to it, but then a circle of knives started to surround the heart with a stabbing sensation. It showed his personal pain and gave a way for the viewer to connect to the piece. So what if it's cliche.

The baby clowns in the mirror are burning in my eyes. Clowns automatically scare me so to have the author's head replaced with many different miserable clowns, baby clowns as a matter of fact, in a mirror, scares me to death and will probably haunt my dreams.

The fingers doing jumping jacks was a great visual accompaniment to White talking about actual jumping jacks. The metaphor of the hands doing laborious physical activity fits perfectly with describing writing. Whether you're actually writing with a pen and paper or typing, your fingers are doing all the work.


what's the difference between Chel White and billy collins presentations on what writing is like
Chel White has a more negative view of writing that will lead to positive outcomes. White is not afraid to go into the dirty details of the writing process and how it affects him.

http://www.lumeneclipse.com/gallery/14/white/

A sentence starts out like...

a seed on the ground, but not one that has been carefully planted. Instead. one that has been blown to the ground by the wind and just hopes to be picked up by the Earth's arms and formed into a full blown flower. It has no control of where it will end up but wants to be meaningful and beautiful. If the seed becomes a planted idea and continues to grow, it may need to overcome storms and squirrels who try to stop its development. Turning into a flower will be the seeds end of the journey until another seed from the flower falls off and starts its own journey to be significant.


sentence = traveler

you can't see where you're going

order in which the meaning is presented. syntax

freewrite

I don't necessarily think it's strange that cell phones have been turned into a primary usage for text messaging and emails. The primary function of a cell phone may be to make calls but everyone wants their phones to be capable of everything imaginable. Text messaging has become a new form of communication that in some situations, is superior to calls. In certain emergencies text messages are discrete enough to contact someone if you are in trouble. On a less serious note, most conversations are not worth the call. The meaningless "hey" "hey what's up" "how are you" "i'm good, what about you" conversations would just take up valuable phone minutes and money.