Throughout this semester, I have learned a broad variety of ways technology and language have been combined, as well as how they have evolved to fit into society. As such, I have learned new ways of implementing technology into writing. For example, Web Logs, or blogs, are a new form of writing that I was preiviously unaware of.
Over the course of the semester I have developed new skills pertaining to "blogging" taught through the course. For example the direct form of communication, normally associated with letters and face to face speaking, I used in my second entry is a rarity in argumentative essays and other similar mediums. It was a new experience to type online for all to see, as I have never done it before. For my first actual entry, I believe it was written successfully and conveyed my intentions effectively. When I started writing the entry, I was unsure as to how to begin, and how to convey my ideas. The only forms of writing I was familiar with were traditional essays, and not simply stating your thoughts. I eventually got better at it, and wrote more effective entries. One such entry was my blog about another person's blog. They said blog was http://www.lt-smash.us/. I was able to quickly and efficiently convey my thoughts that were raised by this blog. I would say this was a turning point in my entries, when I truly became comfortable writing in the blog medium. I was able to communicate in a relatively unfamiliar medium, and make my points clearly and without much confusion. After writing the entry about LT Smash's blog, I felt more confident in my ability to write more blogs without as much difficulty as before. As such, the general quality of my arguments in the later entries rose to a higher level of writing. On another entry, about memories, photography, and its technological development, I was able to discern enough information from a relatively difficult essay to construct a well organized blog that contained a decent argument. After completing this blog, I felt as if my writing in this medium had risen to another level. Another entry in which I wrote successfully was my entry on Star Wars Galaxies. Here I was able to write about a game that I am quite fond of. I've never been able to write solely about a game in any class paper ever before. This entry was exciting to write, it was a new experience writing about a game for a grade. This entry was one of my best, as it quickly and efficiently offers enough information about the game to get a feel for it, but not bore someone with the details. This entry was almost an introduction to the actual essay, which was written as a traditional argumentative essay. Going back to such a form of writing was not overly difficult, as I had been doing it for some time now. However, changing from the medium of blogging back to essays on the same subject was a little disorienting, as my essay showed. It contained sections which seemed to me as if I ripped them from a blog entry, and despite my best efforts, the paper came across as a very large blog. Overall, I believe I did well on the paper, as I earned a decent grade. The last assigned entry, the entry on Tara McPherson's Reloaded, was another successful entry. It was the first entry in which I took a position almost completely on opposite sides of the reading material and the author's views. It was a new experience, to be arguing against someone's point in a medium where it would be near impossible for them to ever find my ideas, and read them. With that in mind, I was able to write more effectively, knowing of a low probability for any form of rebuttal. Once completed, I was satisfied with how a new form of writing in an already new medium worked out.
Not all my entries were well written. There were a few that I struggled with, that I just couldn't think of anything to say, or I had trouble with the source material. For example, my entry on Walter Benjamin's "The Storyteller" was a somewhat lacking entry. I was unable to effectively understand all of Benjamin's ideas, and my responses to them were even more disorienting to me, and any potential reader of the entry. Writing in response to the idea that technology would ruin storytelling was a difficulty. I say this because I see no reason of technologies ever altering storytelling for the worse, I've only seen gradual improvements over time. Writing this in response to "The Storyteller" was difficult not just because it was hard to understand all of Benjamin's points, but mainly because I was not accustomed to taking opposite points and arguing them on the blog medium. As such, the entry was lacking in the successful writing that my other entries possessed.
Overall, as the course progressed, so did my writing abilities. I learned a knew medium, a few of its intricacies, and a new style of writing. Generally, each entry written demonstrated a better understanding of the medium and a higher level of writing, albeit if that higher level was barely higher. I feel more confident in my ability to write on new mediums that require different ideas, and different styles of communication.  ¶ 8:22 AM

  Throughout this semester, I have learned a borad variety of ways technology and language have been combined, as well as how they have evolved to fit into society. As such, I have learned new ways of implementing technology into writing. For example, Web Logs, or blogs, are a new form of writing that I was preiviously unaware of. Over the course of the semester I have devleoped new skills pertaining to "blogging" taught through the course. For example the direct form of communcication, normally associated with letters and face to face speaking, I used in my second entry is a rarity in argumentative essays and other similar mediums. It was a new experience to type online for all to see, as I have never done it before. For my first actual entry, I believe it was written successfully and conveyed my intentions effectively. When I started writing the entry, I was unsure as to how to begin, and how to convey my ideas. The only forms of writing I was familiar with were traditional essays, and not simply stating your thoughts. I eventually got better at it, and wrote more effective entries. One such entry was my blog about another person's blog. They said blog was http://www.lt-smash.us/. I was able to quickly and efficiently convey my thoughts that were raised by this blog. I would say this was a turning point in my entries, when I truly became comfortable writing in the blog medium. I was able to commuinicate in a realatively unfamiliar medium, and make my points clearly and without much confusion. After writing the entry about LT Smash's blog, I felt more confident in my ability to write more blogs without as much difficulty as before. As such, the general quality of my arguments in the later entries rose to a higher level of writing. On another entry, about memories, photography, and its technological development, I was able to discern enough information from a relatively difficult essay to construct a well organized blog that contained a decent argument. After completing this blog, I felt as if my writing in this medium had risen to another level. Another entry in which I wrote successfully was my entry on Star Wars Galaxies  ¶ 7:41 AM

  In response to the group presentations, I was quite intrigued by the information on video games and violence. Growing up I have experienced many violent games. From Wolfenstein 3D to Diablo 2, there are many games out there, and have been out there, that contain senseless violence. I don't see violence in games as an atrocity. Sure, there are some games I will not play because they are overly violent, for example, Kingpin. I have seen violent games not as a cause for those who play them to commit violent acts, but as a release for anger. For example, when I have a bad day, I will take out my anger in a game. It is in my opinion that violent games do not cause people to commit violent acts, that the people themselves wanted to commit such acts before they played the game. If you want to do something violent, and you play a game, it doesn't make you go out and do it. It can however, allow you to commit the act in a world where it does not matter, and no one suffers any of the consequences. As such, violence in games is not an evil, it is not a good, it is just a way to relieve stress. As such, I believe that due to the nature of gaming, the variety of games, and the differences of those who play them, violence in games does not cause gamers to commit crimes, but providdes a way to get rid of one's anger.  ¶ 3:20 PM

  Tara McPherson's essay Reloaded was a strange article to read. Most of the essay was repetitive, uneventful, and quite boring. Generally, each topic did not persuade me to anything. Most of what she said has already either been brought up in other documents, or on television or the internet. A lot of her topics left me saying, "Well, yeah." It was as if everything she said was already assumed. She didn't bring up anything new except a word she made: moving-volition. Most of the connections she "observed" are due to the nature of the internet and television. Such differences, such as internet sitcoms versus television sitcoms, are not open to participate interpretation as to interactivity. The differences are simply the natures of these two mediums. Television always has something on. You have control as to which channel is displayed to your screen, and that is about it. All in all it is pretty easy to get to a television show you like. Internet requires more effort to simply get to a show, but once you do, you have a lot of control due to on demand systems. McPherson brings up this difference as if this was the latest wonder of the world, but such things are just "there." The internet in itself is interactive by nature. There is a lot more to it than flipping channels, like in television. Television is meant to be simple, to require little effort. Just because the internet is more interactive, does not mean it will replace television. Television is a mainstay to many people's lives. News, weather, and many other topics can be accessed at all times. Internet also does this. That does not mean just because you click your mouse more than the remote that we will all be throwing away our remotes for mice.  ¶ 12:47 PM

  Roland Barthes' essay on photography was an interesting way to view the connection between pictures and mortality. To me his views were some what strange at first, especially his connecting taking pictures with death. But as he progressed and explained, I realized he made some valid points. For example, when he states that "Death is the eidos of the photograph," and begins to discuss how he becomes immersed in the camera, he makes sense. When I stand in front of a camera, I pose, and for that short time, life is the camera, as I try to seem a little taller, or make it seem like I'm doing great and I have no worries at all. The "click" of the camera takes over your mind, as you try to appear as some thing more. The Winter Garden photograph of Barthes' mother is his "perfect" photograph of her. We all have a picture of us that puts us in the best light, we have on our best smile; a photo that defines what we believe is our "best" image. When a picture is being taken of us, we try to seem like we are either having fun, or doing something important. Pictures are rarely catalogues of bad times. In One Hour Photo Robin Williams states that if some one saw only pictures of some one's life, they would have to assume that the person had a wonderful life full of back to back fun memories. Barthes' tries to identify with this. He goes a step further in stating that pictures are history, and that even though he has pictures of himself, history is before him. I don't see this as Barthes' begin conceited. I see history the same way. Many things have happened in my life, and they have been recorded, but I do not see them as history. I see history similarly to how Barthes' sees it. It is before me. World War II, The advent of the computer, and many other things are history. Events that have happened during my life are not. Such events have not passed by long enough to be labeled history, as many are still fresh in my mind. All in all, I generally agree with Barthes' views.  ¶ 6:38 PM

  After our class discussion on the American Memory Project, I realized a few things I take for granted when I watch a movie. Today I can choose from a variety of movies that contain extraordinary special effects, sound, and many other qualities early movies could not possess. Today, movie goers expect a film that will draw them into it, immerse them in something different from their everyday lives. Most movies accomplish this fairly well. When we go to a theater, we are quiet, silent (usually) as we watch a new movie, hanging on every frame as we wonder what will happen next. Movie goers back when film first came out, did not have such movies. They were short, and silent, and could not offer strange scenes of other worlds or dimensions. When I found out that watching a series of films during that time was more of a social event, where you talked with friends while the films played, I was a little amazed. The films may have no sound, but I could not imagine carrying on a conversation while I was watching a new movie. An older movie that I had seen many times maybe, but not a new one I was seeing for the first time. But people back then obviously treated films much different than we do today. When I watch some of them, I have to appreciate the creator's attempts to make a something strange occur. For example, when we watched the film in class, The Artist's Dilemma, I was amazed at the ingenuity used to make it seem that the ghost finished the painting in mere seconds. The next thought that crossed my mind was how far technology in movies has come. The first movie I remember seeing in theater was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and that was a special effects intensive movie. As a child, I could not imagine movies being old, and looking poor. It was not until I was older and I had seen a few older movies, and now, seeing some of the oldest movies, that I have come to appreciate how much technology has actually been integrated into movies. I have come to realize, like everything else, that films have evolved over time to adapt to the audiences' expectations, their wants, and how much movies have changed because of that.  ¶ 2:08 PM

  For the museum assignment, I visited the High Museum, which was designed by Richard Meire in 1983. The museum's galleries on the first and second floors were limited, as it is undergoing some renovation. The fourth floor contains temporary exhibits on loan from another museum. The third floor is some of the High's standard exhibits, that are from their collection. The museum's galleries are large, spacious, and uncluttered, not only by exhibits, but also fairly free from crowds of people. Such space allows one to walk between displays, not stand in one place for some time, while looking at several different objects. There isn't a defined path to follow, but if one follows the outer edge, most of the exhibits can be reached without passing up too many. Otherwise, the layout offers a convenient way around to each exhibit, with little clutter. The museum's exhibits are ordered by donor, and then by artist. For example, many exhibits on the third floor belong to the Virginia Caroll Crawford collection, and are ordered by artist in groups on the floor. The temporary exhibits are galleries of Ansel Adams and Edward Hopper. Adams' work was done mainly in photographs, all taken to preserve the realistic sense of his surroundings. Hopper did quite the same thing, but through painting. These two artists were tired of the romanticized arts forms that had been coming out, and wanted to go back to realistic views. I found this organization effective on the fourth floor, as all the Adams photos are in one place, and all the Hopper paintings are in another, which allows you to take in all of one artist before moving on to the next. The third floor allows a little bit of freedom, which also brings confusion, as you come across sculptures very similar to one in the room before. Either way, the experience was not bad. As for Mitchell's statement, sprawling galleries will be around for quite some time. One can look through pictures of exhibits on a computer, but one can not receive a full appreciation for the artwork. This is especially so with sculptures, as a picture only offers one point of view, but many are needed to fully "see" a sculpture.  ¶ 9:05 AM

  For my project, I have decided to write about the latest game from Lucas Arts, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. It is a massive multiplayer online role playing game, henceforth referred to as an mmorpg. The game is based on several planets in the Star Wars universe, from Tatooine to Naboo. It is comprised of 20 servers, each an identical galaxy. It has risen to the second most populated mmorpg in less than a year, beaten only by the long time champ, Everquest. Galaxies is a very complex game for many people, and quite simple for many others. It all depends on how you play. Your character's skills and class vary from a musician to a bounty hunter. There are many different careers to follow, all of which are necessary to the continued prosper of the planets in the game. For example, many characters progress into combat specialized classes, such as the commando, the bounty hunter, the rifleman, and so on. But others become dancers, merchants, and doctors. All the classes are equally important, as the best bounty hunter in the game can't do anything if there aren't any weapon smiths to make their guns. And the other way around, an armor smith can make all the armor they want, but without any combat specialists, they will never sell their wares. Galaxies is a game that one immerses into, as it acts very much like its own little world. I plan to evaluate Galaxies as a game that helps one to realize that no one person can accomplish everything, even in a virtual world, and that you always need a little help.  ¶ 8:22 PM