English BLog

2003-12-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

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

2003-12-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-11-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-11-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-11-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-10-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-10-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-10-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Throughout our lives we experience many things, good and bad. These events can be physical, mental, or emotional in the way they effect us. For example, losing a loved one has a severe emotional effect, where as winning the championship in any sport has a definite physical effect. Unfortunately, our memories can not possibly record every detail of every event of our lives. Many of these events are remembered, but as time passes, and the event "fades" from memory, we lose some of the smaller details, and retain just the "big picture." In the past, there were paintings. sculptures, and many other forms to record events. Today, we have much more advanced "technologies of memory." Pictures and movies are prime examples of such. Most people take pictures during all the important times of their lives, to retain the smaller details of the event. Miles Hochstein states that "photography [is] a destroyer of memory." I disagree. Photography enhances memory, and when I see pictures of when I was younger, most all of them bring back other bits and pieces that I had thought were forgotten, and I go back to that time, and remember what it was like. I have pictures of me as a child in Germany, and when I look at some of them, they bring back more memories from that time of my life; memories that I would not remember without the aid of pictures. I do not take many photographs on a day to day basis, but when I do something once in a lifetime I take quite a few. On a recent trip to Alaska, I took many pictures, some of which were just of a mountain goat on the side of the road, or the horizon has the sun finally set 30 minutes after midnight. Such pictures bring back to memory the intricacies of the trip, and how there are places so very different from where I live. Technologies of memory as a whole, be they pictures, movies, or another form, help us to remember minute details, as well as bring to mind forgotten memories.

2003-09-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

In a search for a causal argument in a blog, I recently came across Daniel Terdiman's blog: "Toward a Weblogging Empire." The blog discusses Jason Calacanis, former editor of Silicon Alley Reporter, and his recent venture on turning blogs into a source of profit.

The main method of argument presented by Calacanis is the common factor method. Calacanis considers blogs very much the same as magazines: a collection of articles on a broad variety of topics. He plans to apply the same processes to blogs as he has applied to magazines. This method is not too effective once the obvious faults are made known. For example, the fact that very few blog readers want to read a magazine in a blog, they read them because they are short, quick, and to the point. The common factor method does present many similarities between blogs and magazines, but it does not compensate for the attitudes of the audience towards blogs. Many people consider making profit off of a blog is impossible, as entire blog providers such as Gawker and Gizmodo only bring in $2000 in revenue a month. Calacanis' argument of magazines and blogs being similar falls short of convincing many readers.

Perhaps a preferred method would be the single difference method. With this method Calacanis could have pointed out that the single difference between blogs and magazines is the current availability. Magazines require subscriptions and money, where as blogs are currently readily available at the click of a few buttons, with no monetary cost. This method could help prove his point that blogs will bring in less money than a magazine, but also prove that they are easier for a much larger audience to gain access to and read.

2003-09-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

I have been analyzing the use of narrative argument in the following blog: http://www.lt-smash.us/. This blog is written by a U.S. soldier before, during, and after Operation: Iraqi Freedom. The use of narrative argument in this blog is exceptional. It is a collection of thoughts and the goings on of daily life in the "sandbox" as the area is called by the resident troops. The narration of personal experiences is quite often an effective form of argument. Such writing makes one feel as if they are there, as if the daily actions of L.T. Smash were our own. The effects that narrative writing have on a reader are more drastic than most, the posts are the happenings of another person's life. Not something that someone thought of, but real life events, that are taking place in someone else's life. As a member of Naval ROTC, I feel a bit differently than most civilians who read the blog. Soon, I will be in the place of L.T. Smash, a soldier defending our nation. Such empathy is common among narratives. It is a unique aspect to such writing, and allows its own form to take place. L.T. Smash makes many arguments on why he is there, why he is doing this, and other small things. He argues that he is there for very specific reasons, among such that many other people share. For example, he knew people in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, just like many others who lost friends and family. That is one of his many reasons for being a soldier. I believe that the rhetorical appeals of L.T. Smash's blog are very simple, he is doing what is right. He is not in it for glory, money, or any other such motive, I believe that he is there to support justice, with no secondary agenda. As such, the readers can enjoy the blog from the perspective of another person, his humor, his sadness, and his joys. All are presented to the audience in a narrative argument, which make it a distinctive form of rhetoric.

2003-09-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

Walter Benjamin writes "The Storyteller" to analyze his thoughts on the modernization of the world around him. This takes place during the 1930's in Germany, and much is changing. The essay takes on a nostalgic tone, due to the loss of storytelling. Books, much more common and available, and other methods of communication, as well as the industrialization of Germany are causing less people to tell tales, and to concentrate more on working. The lack of storytelling as causes Benjamin to feel sad, and worried that the art of storytelling will become forever lost. As the essay continues, the reader can definitely feel how Benjamin feels about the loss of storytelling. One can, just by reading the essay, learn that he feels very strongly for what is taking place. He calls this the loss of experience, not defined so much in the way we have come to understand it, but in a new, different way. The loss of experience is seen through the loss of active storytellers, and the lack of traditional communication. The new technologies were astounding Benjamin, for communicating long distance was becoming easier and faster. Such workings were causing Benjamin to fear that storytelling would forever disappear from the world. As such, Benjamin fears that the venerable art of storytelling of the past will be lost amongst the other treasures of time as the new age brings in new technology that replaces such an art. With such a view in mind, Benjamin is indeed nostalgic, and worrisome for the future.

2003-09-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

As I read more and more blogs, I find many issues that I would do differently. I am not going to sum what others do, or what they should or should not do, but simply state that I would do some things the same, but others differently. Blogs are, unfortunately, not a form of the media. A blog is someone's thoughts written down to provide information to anyone who wants to find it and read it. They are similar to books in the library. You go into a library sometimes looking for a particular work, sometimes not, you pick one out, and you read it. It may be fact, or fiction, or something in between. Some Bloggers try and write as if their posting was an editorial in a daily newspaper, others as if they are writing a novel. But they all have their own quirks about how they write based on their intuitions. For example, some bloggers will erase old entries that have become outdated or made meaningless by other information. Such action is understandable if an entry no longer contains any pertinent information to recent events. That form of information is for books. A blog adapts with each and every entry, and as such some must be left behind. As for keeping notes of deletions, that is a personal preference, I find notes on irrelevant information tedious. Now if an entry was deleted because it was or was partly incorrect, notification should be made. If a blogger accidentally posts misinformation, the blogger should correct it as soon as possible, preferably the original entry. Such action requires a few notes to say, "I was wrong, but here is the correct stuff." For everyone is wrong at some times, no one person can assume to be always right. If a blog contains online references, it is a good idea to link to them, just to give the reader an easy way to read up on the information that was left out. Not linking does not lead to readers becoming single minded, it is not the end of the world, it is simply less effort from the blogger. Bloggers who wish to be seen as efficient writers with many credible sources should link, those who wish only to say their two bits, don't have to link. As for the potential audience, that could be anyone. If a blogger is trying not to offend anyone, good luck. Blogs are open to anyone and everyone. Eventually, a reader will be offended. A blogger's only consolation is that they did not force anyone to read their blog, it was the reader's own volition to open the url and read. One key to writing blogs is to remember, that anyone can be the audience, so either write to everyone, or attempt to limit your audience by posting the same form of entries that cover similar topics. Such action can gain a blogger dedicated readers, and eventually a set audience to go by. Once this is achieved, a blogger can add different entries to attract more readers, or stick with the ones who already trust them.

2003-08-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

Good Day, I have recently been reading the entries from Blogger Joanne Jacobs, and needless to say, I have found her style of argument to be quite interesting. Jacobs mainly concerns herself with the problems of public schools. Nearly all of her recent entries discuss the major defects in programs and the general actions being taken at public schools. Jacobs comments on the writings of several others about many topics including SAT scores, the effects of culture, background, and class on school, and even the Power Point's (C) evil. She uses mainly the writings of others to support and defend her arguments. Her style involves mostly the reciting of others who are known for their credibility and expertise in their fields. Jacob's style of argument is that of bringing to light the details of the afore mentioned programs. Jacobs causes one to think about what is being said, not to just skim it and move on, but to actually sit down and take some time to say, "Wait a minute." Jacobs establishes ethos by not just writing anything and everything. Her topics are credible, as well as the excerpts she uses from other bloggers. With an established credibility, a reader is able to trust what is read in her blog to be well written and well supported. Such ethos makes it easy to attract new readers and keep old ones, as it provides a "good source" of information. Jacob's logos is that of a concerned citizen. With many drastic problems effecting the public schools of today, she addresses ones she feels are significant. She brings them to others to be digested and thought on, and hopefully even acted upon. Such logic makes readers accept the same ideas as problems, and recognize that they need to be fixed, and perhaps even take some effort to get something started to fix such problems. Jacobs uses pathos by appealing to our want for the children of our country to receive the best education they can. With such problems put into perspective, she causes readers to focus on actual problems such as Power Point (C) causing children to lose writing ability than SAT scores of males being 40 points higher than those of females (she explains the reasons behind this in her blog). Through such ethos, logos, and pathos, Jacob's readers learn much and are moved to understanding the more indistinct problems of public school, and that some of the more distinctive are not all that bad.

2003-08-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Richard Beaulieu, and this is my blog that is required for my English class. As for myself, I'm 17 and attending the Georgia Institute of Technology. I am not from Georgia, but from Texas. I was born in Huntsville, Alabama, but I don't call there home, because I only lived there for three months. In that time frame I moved to El Paso, Texas, where I have spent fourteen years of my life. A brief three year period from 1993 to 1996 was spent in Germany, as my dad was in the Army and was stationed there. I have traveled to many places including Denmark, France, all over Germany, and most recently, Alaska. I enjoy taking time off to sit at my computer and play a good game. I am a member of the Atlanta Region Navy ROTC Unit here at GA Tech, and I plan on graduating, receiving a commission, and moving on into submarine warfare as a naval officer. Well, that is enough about me, and I hope I didn’t sound too much an egomaniac, so look forward to future entries about English stuff.