El proyecto final

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">Final Project

Response to Dan's Q

Q: With the merging of mediums or changes in mediums, like new media, what effect does this have on culture? or does the culture change the medium?

A: New media is affected by the people, institutions and groups that interact and create the advancements in technology and make remediation possible. It is definitely the citizens in the said culture that influence the medium. Without a demand for reality, the tactic of using media to convey reality would remain a figment of our wildest imaginations. Only when people in society take the initiative to bring the viewers a real experience did the possibilities of combining and changing media skyrocket exponentially.

Networks of Remediation (Bolter & Grusin)

1. What is your take on the notion that immediacy depends on the cultural context? (i.e. Africans v. Westerners looking at a photograph) Do you agree or disagree that immediacy to some may look like hypermediacy to others? Explain or give an example of how this applies to you.

2. Is it the media that influence cultural changes or cultural changes that influence media? Give evidence to support this.

3. Remediation is happening all around. Is it possible for you, the viewer, to watch a movie and be drawn immediately into a scene where an actor is watching or interacting through another medium? Does the fact that you're watching someone using another medium trigger the realization that you are also interacting with hypermediated technology?

Response to Nick's Q

Q: Considering the current decline in print journalism, do you think it has fallen to a consumer-based rise in demand for such readily accessible media as video? What's your take on that difference in hypermedia?

A: I agree that the consumer-based rise in demand for easily accessible media is the cultural trend. It appears that print journalism is weeded out with the ever-dominant role of broadcast and digital media. However, we as citizens and viewers have the choice to expose ourselves to whatever type of media we want. Even though video tries to emulate reality by taking the viewers on-the-scene and giving them an exclusive look into any given subject, it will never attain reality. Unless we are all living in a daze or completely unaware of our surroundings, we will realize that hypermediacy isn't a substitution for reality. True, it's fun to put on a pair of night goggles and experience virtual reality, but that fantastic fantasy is almost as surreal as the idea that Elvis Presley is still alive. We as a society has forgotten the immediacy of the very paper and ink that journalists have poured their labor into paging together. The authentic news is still found from imagining the scene, not seeing it on TV. Because even though we see it, we have no real recollection or memory of experiencing it and personally feeling it. Nothing replaces reality.

Mediation and Remediation (Bolter & Grusin)

1. In the reading, hypermedia and transparent media both desire to get past the limits of representation and to achieve the real. Yet, all media is remediation. Do you think that remediation detracts from the ability to achieve reality?

2. What do you think of the idea that our culture shapes media as opposed to media shaping our culture?

3. How effective is language in visual media? (i.e. subtitles in a foreign film) Should they be omitted altogether or does it enhance the real experience of films?

Response to Aaron's Q

Q: As a writing teacher, would you focus on the importance of the writer or the reader in relation to text? Explain the faults in the view that opposes yours.

A: I believe that there is a relationship or a triad, if you will, among the author, reader & purpose of the text itself. No single category is more or less important. However, students inevitably write as though they were talking to themselves. Often times, students write using pronouns such as "I" or "me," which constantly reminds them that their thoughts & opinions matter. However, take a persuasive or argumentative piece instead of a narrative. Then, students begin to realize that the writing is not necessarily about the author but about how the author can reach his or her audience. Without that bridge between the reader and writer, the purpose of the text becomes null and void. Unless the writer tends to keep one's writing to his or herself, the audience should be given more attention. That means, the writers needs to see from the outsider's perspective and look into the text instead of looking out into the world through his/her own eyes.

Response to Megan's Q

Q: According to Hampe, if you turn off the sound and can understand what's going on you have strong visual evidence, does this mean that sound evidence is unimportant or maybe even weakens your message?

A: Sound is a vital player in any motion picture or footage. If anything, audio enhances the meaning of a silent film. Yet, if a documentary or video can stand alone without the sound, the filmmaker has taken an extra step that isn't necessarily useful to the viewers. I think that in this generation, where our attention span is limited to 6 seconds of newspaper reading, it is ALL about the sound that we hear on TV that captures our attention. In order for a video to be meaningful, the audience must DRAW meaning out of it. The work itself cannot stand alone as meaningful if nobody pays enough attention or makes the effort to watch a movie without sound.

20 things

1. concrete seating area behind Lincoln Hall... may serve as a meeting spot or a place to find one's Muse.
2. water fountains in front of Alice Campbell Alumni bldg... may serve as a place to gather & celebrate or a place to mourn & weep.
3. alley next to the Big Fat Sandwich Co... may serve as a drug trafficking locale or a scene where suspense rises
4. fraternity on Third & John... may serve as a chapel of some sort or a place to confess sins.
5. Education bldg... may serve as a jail cell or concentration camp
6. Courtroom in law bldg... may serve as a place for intellectuals to gather & present a case to the judge (we may be able to obtain a gavel)
7. walkway next to Allen Hall (leading to Lincoln Ave.)... may serve as a scenic route or a pathway where two people can engage in intimate conversation since the sidewalk is pretty long.
8. Construction next to Armory (down Fourth St.)... may serve as a scene where co-workers wearing hard hats interact or just enjoy the simple pleasures of work.
9. Swimming pool on 8th floor of 309... may serve as a scene that depicts summer & fun, could be a place where strangers meet, or a place where a child tragically drowns.
10. The roundabout hallway inside the south entrance of the English Bldg... may be taped in a manner to give emphasis on repetition or point out a recurring ideas. Also, this is a good location to shoot two people who are standing across the hallway from each other with a wide gap in between.
11. Overpass connecting the Tower at Third and the parking garage... may serve as a transition into a city scene (equivalent to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge)
12. A view from a certain height inside the Tower at Third... may serve as a place to take an aerial shot of a city. It looks even more like Chicago at night time.
13. Financial Aid bldg... may serve as an office or headquarters of some sort. The building itself is made of glass windows, so we can even shoot a scene going on inside from outside of the building.
14. Caribou Coffee inside County Market... may serve as a meeting location or a place where a job interview could take place.
15. Hallway leading to Graduate Library inside the UGL cafe... may serve as a shot where people can walk down the halls in the background and make the setting look natural.
16. Pillars outside the English bldg... may serve as a scene from Greece.
17. Krannert art museum... may serve as a scenic background when shooting city life images.
18. Business Instructional Facility... any of its rooms can be used to shoot a classroom scene. Also, we can shoot an aerial view of a scene happening on the main level (open area) from the 2nd floor balcony. We can shoot people walking up and down the stairs from halfway across the building, too.
19. Ditch near tennis courts by Allen Hall (on Dorner)... may serve as a war scene (kind of emulating the trenches during WWII)
20. Patio behind ISR... may serve as a backdrop to show a social setting that exists behind a person's home. Also, it could be used as a place to hold family gatherings.

Intertexts (Ede & Lunsford)

1. What is your take on group projects at the collegiate level? Should professors step away from encouraging shared authorship through group work?

2. Why do you think individualism has become a part of the post-Renaissance culture? What events or ideas revoluntionized independent thinking and rightfully (or selfishly) taking credit for one's own work to the point where authors fight over whose name appears first on the insert or title page?

3. "Reconstruction does not imply a return to a lost state but rather an alternative conceptualization of the experience of subjectivity, enriched by the chastening experiences of the
last century." This quote written by Thomas C. Heller & David E. Wellbery was meant to reconstruct the word, "individualism." Can individualism be something more than taking ownership of one's present work? How does an individual taking authorship of a work have anything to do with the past?

Response to Nick's Q

Q: What kind of documentary would you prefer to make? Do you think more can be achieved with a documentary than with the simple presentation of facts? Why or why not?

A: I would love to cover live footage of lifestyles in third world countries for a TV news station or do some personal filming to make into a documentary. It's not all that easy trying to give a fresh look at an issue like poverty or warfare because of the overuse of images portraying malnourished children in Africa or babies with missing limbs. Movies such as Schindler's List (covering footage from the Holocaust) presents the facts in the form of a documentary (Jews are being incinerated & burned alive in concentration camps), and the visual provides a poignant effect. A documentary serves as a vehicle that processes reality. A documentary is most effective when it takes an emotional approach that helps the viewers connect with the story, whereas a Powerpoint presentation, for example, remains as flat and dull as the screen it shows up on.

Making Analogs of Reality (Hampe)

1. What was the author's purpose of reminding us, "Some ideas just aren't visual ideas. They belong in an article, or a pamphlet, or a speech, or a recording, or a wall poster." What should we keep in mind about how to capture footage as we start our video project?

2. Have you or a friend ever gotten great footage on video for the purpose of making a point, but it didn't play back the right way or couldn't be edited without desroying the original footage altogether? What made you realize the evidence simply wasn't there?

3. What is your take on filming visual images where nothing happens? Do you think the "absense of activity" can bring forth a compelling message? (i.e. man sitting still in a chair, a child sleeping) Or should these scenes be cut out from the video/documentary altogether?

Converting Youtube clips into MP3

1. Copy the YouTube URL you want to use.
2. Click this link here.
3. Paste the YouTube URL into the bar labeled "Enter YouTube URL."
4. Click the blue "Go" button.
5. Look below for an orange link that says "Download MP3." Click on it.
6. Follow the green text that says "Click button below to download MP3" (inside the gray bar)
7. When it asks to save the file, save it into iTunes.

The YouTube clip is now in MP3 format & ready to use.

Audio Essay

My Project Shared

Response to Megan's Q

Q: Shipka seems to suggest that the final product may not be the most important component in a project but that authorial intent must be taken into account? However, many people might only see the final product and not know the authorial intent. Do you agree with Shipka? Or do you feel that without knowing about the author the audience does not get the entire experience?

A: Jody Shipka makes a valid point that the author's intent/thought process isn't always manifested in the final product. That is why it's important for there to be an analysis and reflection time after attempting to create a project using activity-based multimodal compositions. However, if the author's intent is far removed from the actual representation or model of the project, then the author may need to RETHINK the way he/she presents the piece to the audience. After all, one component of these activity-based multimodal projects is to find a way to COMMUNICATE with the audience members. Thus, the final product should be complex enough to show a thought process that is new and enlightening, but it should also keep the components and combinations that make up the piece simple to follow.

Sound Engineering: Toward a theory of multimodal soundness (Shipka)

1. What was your initial interpretation of the phrase, "activity-based multimodal theory of composing?" In other words, what did you think the author was talking about before you read any further?

2. Using your newfound understanding of the aforementioned theory, let's say you were a teacher. How would you explain to a student how this theory works? Give an example of a creative assignment or project that would allow room for students to make their own choices and negotiate objectives, rules tools, materials, conventions of specific communicative genres, activitity system or discipline.

3. How can you relate to Dan or Val in some of the projects you've done throughout your years of schooling? Could you describe the activity-based multimodal project and explain briefly 1) what purpose the piece served 2) who the audience was 3) and how you appropriately chose the elements & combinations to fulfill this project (i.e. why this visual technique, why this type of sound, etc.)

Bernie Somers: Women & Children (The Moth)

This segment of the Moth was hilarious. To open up the night, Bernie Somers sings a song that he made up about how he would imagine people to react on the sinking Titantic. "Women and children FIRRR-RST..." I would definitely rather be there in person to watch this stand-up comedian rather than listen to it without a visual supplement. As difficult as it sounds, I'm trying to envision sitting next to complete strangers and laughing as though I was one of the people in the crowd. Truly, podcasts do detract from being in the actual setting. However, the sound effects (i.e. laughter, clapping of hands and the detailed intonations of the speaker) all give this segment more substance. I enjoyed being entertained, and I think I automatically laughed during the parts where the audience collectively laughed. Even though I don't know these people and I can't interact with them, they influenced me. It's interesting to think that people, in this case, are merely part of the audio. I use my ears more in this segment and catch subtle tones and voice changes because I rely on one of my senses to remain keen.

Initial Interpretation of People's Photo Essays

Susmita:
This piece seems to shed light on a typical Monday night of Texas Hold 'Em. The people in the photos appear to be enjoying the game of poker. This may emphasize a tradition or value of enjoying time with good company. I liked the use of numbers on the whiteboard to show that poker was a mathematical game based on chance. The game of emotions is displayed.

Rasheena:
This is a powerful example of how a child and a young adult view the world. I understood the contrast between a young innocent mind and a more experienced and developed mind. The whole presentation was a juxtaposition of the child's way of identifying/using an object versus the way everyday people in society might respond to typical things such as a bed or wall. I thought it was interesting that you displayed shoes in the last slide (walking in a child's shoes v. adult's shoes).

Raquel:
The images in the first half of the presentation were taken on Green St. The photos seem to capture some of the newer additions to the campus life (Urban Outfitters, Panera Bread, Starbucks, etc.) That's my guess, but someone who might not know about the campus developments may not understand that idea. (Maybe my interpretation is skewed, too). Then you took photos of construction going on with emerging apartments in a neighborhood. I liked this contrast because it was a good indicator of developing areas. This shows hope, progress and growth and renewal.

Nick:
You took pictures of construction heavy areas where you take the viewer into the eyes of you, the camera man. It's interesting how you show the contrast between the developing areas and all the construction and as you travel down the road we encounter areas that are more modernized and developed.

Megan:
The enclosed area in the apartment stands as a stark contrast to the open greenery that you show later on in the slideshow. I thought that the door was a good transition into the outer world. These outdoor, nature pictures are very eye opening. It's almost as though the audience feels the stuffiness of the apartment and then once they see the sky and trees, we all seem to breathe more easily.

HK:
Your message was deep. It looks like the photos are meant to show that global issues are powerful with people protesting and fighting for social justice. Yet gradually we see the pictures digress into images of people who deal with smaller, more personal issues. I think to myself, we must be a nation caught up in self-image. It seems selfish in a sense. We deal with less significant issues compared to starving children and human rights. You could've played with black and white & color. Show more emphasis on the more serious pictures and use color for the less significant ones.

Dan:
Before I saw the ordered photo essay, I thought that it was meant to show how lighting affects the viewing of the same or similar images. I wasn't sure what you meant to do by playing with the different angles of the book aisles.The ordered photo essay flows better because I saw you tried to zoom out of the bookshelves, changed the lighting and gradually gave the message that we need to see with a broader perspective. Nice use of movement and adding life to the images.

Aaron:
The beach theme really got me excited. I like the usage of different aspects of the beach instead of just the ocean itself. The lighting of the photos is vivacious. First the images were just of the beach and the sky. There are a lot of single object, still life shots with human elements. I thought that was really interesting.

Response to Dan's Q

1. What kind of films or genres of films uses sounds more effectively?

I think that action movies utilize the mood and sound because these demand the most attention from the audience members. The images already stand out so once the viewers are captivated by the graphics, the music or background noise accentuate the actual experience of the film itself.

Sound matters: Notes toward the analysis and design of sound in multimodal webtexts (McKee)

1. What does the author mean by describing silence as a 'present absence?' Would you agree or disagree that silence is a presence and not an absence?

2. Do you hear that? [Pause] Sound is all around you. Take a moment to pause and type out all the different sounds that you hear. Describe them as acutely as possible.

3. Why do you think we listen to music that captures our mood? Can you describe or give an example of what Aaron Copland means when he says there are three planes on which we listen to music? (sensuous, expressive and sheerly musical)

Photo Essay

My Project

Starting this photo essay required me to think on my feet. Literally, I spent a day walking around campus trying to come up with inspiration. My Muse finally revealed the everyday usage of traffic signs as conveyors of a semantic meaning. There was nothing deep about signs, parking meters or traffic signals. Out of the ordinary, I decided to create the extraordinary.

My original idea was to juxtapose an image of a sign with someone violating that regulation. However, it was hard to find a lot of unique regulatory signs and even harder to capture images of people actually violating them. I branched off the idea of everyday traffic laws and how normal it is for people to violate them. Then I explored the arena of human rights, and the photo essay had a more global meaning, but I kept the target audience directed at the individual and how each person impacts the world.

As I took photos of ways that people "violate" the law or the intended meaning of traffic or regulatory signs, I thought about how to tie in human rights. Instead of tying everything together, I decided to make the slideshow a "stream of consciousness" piece in which one image triggers a thought about another related but different image. I opened my gage to a variety of images that could eventually connected the photos in this order: speed limit sign, stop sign, no parking zone, a car violating the no parking zone, an expired parking meter with a car still parked there, traffic signal blinking with the "Don't Walk" sign, a kid crossing when the sign forbids that action, stolen shopping carts in front of a fraternity, a "NO DUMPING" sign, waste in a landfill, homeless people eating garbage, poverty in Africa, contrasting poverty with decadent bars of chocolate, slaves laboring on cocoa farms, slave with marks of floggings, a child soldier with a gun, a girl cowering in the shadow of fear, a ghost image taken of my friends and me, my senior graduation at church, college bible study, first front-page article, silly jumping picture where I stand out and finally a series of photos taken with a 2-year-old.

The beginning and ending are the most confusing because there seems to be no relationship. The first photo deviated far from the last photo in the slideshow. This was to show the movement of my thoughts that traveled from one image to the next. All the photos were indirectly interlinked. In the end, the message behind the whole piece was that I somehow impact the college community and the world. Who I am in the bare essence is similar to that of a child who doesn't know any better. I have stripped myself of any title, ranking or name by showing first my accomplishment of graduation and making a front page byline and showing the groups I associate myself with and then reverting to images of childhood pleasures - making silly faces at the camera and seeing the world with playful eyes as I once did as a child. These last three photos were taken multiple times in one setting to show that change happens every minute of our lives. It is important to value every moment. Moments are fleeting and never linger at the doorstep longer than the instantaneous zero (physics). Thus, people should tackle everyday experiences with full speed. Hence the first image of two men increasing the speed limit. Just as one realizes a frame of his or her life has passed, several more moments have fleeted while one was caught up in that one thought alone.


The difficulties with the photo essay were mostly mental. I didn't want to stretch myself to thin by going out to get all the photos because most were impossible to find. For instance, I wouldn't be able to take a picture of a slave, but I did want to put all my heart into this project. So I had to settle for using both photos I took myself and images on Google. I had trouble deciding which photo should lead and which photo would finish and leave a lasting impression. I experimented with the different settings to make the photos appear a certain style using photo editing techniques on Picasa. I ran into some trouble uploading and creating a slideshow on Flikr, so I made an account on Photobucket instead.

My major breakthroughs were the ways that I used lighting and blurred backgrounds to focus on certain aspects of a photo. That immediately caught my attention as I viewed the finished product. I was proud of the way I used color and different angles, too. What ended up happening was that I thought of the "stream of consciousness" manner of displaying the images while I was in the process of SEEING the slideshow.

As emphasized in the readings, I knew the importance of perspective and how my interpretation of this photo essay could be vastly different than the way my classmate may understand it. Since we focused on using just images as symbols, I had to eliminate the text that often could be used as a task force to help viewers see the literal and translate the underlying meaning of the object. For the most part, the readings taught me the importance of viewing the context that surrounds the objects and symbols. In photographs, it requires a stretch of imagination because one is viewing a two-dimensional surface without the actual sensory stimulus that a natural surrounding offers. That provides all the more reasons to realize that the author is making every effort to grasp the audience members and communicate with them through the image.

Overall, my theme is the interconnectedness between the individual and the world. Also, I tie in the idea that laws and rights govern the universe, yet people have little time to care or don't reason to act responsibly. I want to emphasize the ignorance of society and the apathy that hinges from simple cases such as violating traffic laws. Potentially, that carefree attitude leads to an even more defined apathy toward issues that demand our sympathy and support: the violation of human rights. Of course, this violation of human rights lies on the opposite end of the spectrum as stealing or crossing the street when forbidden. Yet, we respond to human life similarly to the way we react to regulatory signs. We simply deny that they exist in our minds, and our actions plainly prove that we aren't struck by them at all.

Response to Nick's Q

Q:. Notably, the debate over which is the "real" Virgin on the Rocks painting is mentioned. If you were told that a work of art you'd always admired and thought was real was actually a copy, what would that change for you?

A: At first, I would be dismayed. My disappointment that the art was a copy would be followed by my justification that people should admire art for art's sake (Peter Ruskin). The awe of viewing a work of art created by a well-known artist is not as important as developing my own interpretation and extracting imaginative meaning from the work of art itself. I think that people hype up the importance of viewing the original version of a painting. Some things are better left unsaid. The only difference between a copy and original is what one comes to conclude in his or her mind. That is, one may automatically think that a copy is less valuable than the original. But if the viewer didn't know whether the painting was authentic to begin with, there would be no preconceived notion that this artwork is not of the best quality. The quality of a painting is relative to past comparisons that one has mentally imprinted in his or her head.

Ways of Seeing (Berger) & The Vocabulary of Comics (McCloud)

1. John Berger mentioned that in any medium the images presented to the audience are arranged. Does that alter the objectivity of images? Can viewers still see with their own perspective or possess the freedom to interpret a work of art independent of the artist's intended meaning of the piece?

2. What do you make of this statement: "Reproductions distort. Only a few facsimiles don't." This was Berger's comment about the importance of viewing original paintings in order to stand awe-struck and capture authentic experiences.

3. What do you think about the idea of extended identity? Scott McCloud mentioned in "The Vocabulary of Comics" that we see ourselves as direct parts of objects and objects as parts of ourselves. For instance, when a driver bumps our car we say, "He hit me." We don't say, "That driver's car hit my car." This is because we associate ourselves as congruent to the vehicle we maneuver. What other examples can you think of where we directly associate ourselves with an object?

Response to Megan's Q

Q: In the article Wysoki talks about how important the visual presentation of the page is in terms of how the reader is informed by it. How do you think the reader is then affected by the hypermediated characteristics of a webpage that is fluid and changing?

A: The beauty of multimedia is that regardless of whether the viewer looks at a page or a screen, the author of each medium utilizes specific strategies to facilitate the visual presentation. When a viewer looks at a page in a magazine, there are definitely going to be photos & graphics of various sizes & shapes. Not to mention the text on that page will serve its own purpose of either drawing attention or becoming a neutral backdrop to the viewer's visual experience. Viewers observing a Web page would easily become drawn to the "flashy" images (just as the reader of a magazine would look first to the biggest or most vibrant colors on a page). What is different about a Web page is that one has the luxury of clicking around & opening different links. This gives the viewers an interactive & hands-on experiences that is not afforded via the printed text.

The Multiple Media of Texts (Wysocki)

1. How can two different media, newspaper & online news, for example, serve the same purpose of presenting factual information but do so in a different manner? What visual representations work/do not work on a Web site/screen? What visual representations work/do not work for print/pages?

2. Think of a Web Site you visit often. Go to that Web site & describe what catches your attention first, second & third? Can you explain why?

3. Do you agree or disagree that elements such as color, shape, photographs, charts & graphs, animations, video & sound, drawings & paintings, etc. are used to target a specific audience? Can you give an example of how a children's book may differ in appearance from an adult's book?

Stencil Graffti Project

Step 1: Cut out stencil design with an X-acto knife

Step 2: Place stencil over poster & spray paint thoroughly & let sit & dry before reapplying coat

Step 3: Remove stencil & observe graffiti

Step 4: Have fun messing around with negative prints

Step 5: Place stencil graffiti over a t-shirt & use fabric paint

Step 6: Advertise finished product

Description of Module: The image in the foreground is a journalist wearing a paper hat folded out of a newspaper. He/she is dressed in a cape to conceal his/her identity as a journalist. The reporter appears mysterious because he/she is looking over at a conflict in the background where men are killing each other. There is no doubt that this is a newsworthy story, but the journalist must deal with the fact that it is happening beyond the borders that he/she is NOT legally allowed to cross. The slogan: 'Define Justice.' is more of a challenging statement to foreign governments that U.S. reporters will stop short of death to cover a story worth informing the public. Not only is the journey to cross the border an audacious one, but the statement also challenges journalists with the question, "How can you just stand there & watch it happen?"

Space to Incorporate Graffiti: I chose two different places where I want the graffiti to be displayed.

1. On a poster that human rights activists can use to raise awareness about the two reporters Laura Ling & Euna Lee who are serving time in North Korea's labor camp for crossing the borders to cover a story about women trafficking.

2. This graffiti would appear on t-shirts that would be sold at department stores as part of a promotion or deal. Buy one of these shirts & get a discount on store items. The t-shirt would help scholars in the younger generations become active supporters of justice at school & around the community.

Audience: I hope that the graffiti speaks to not only foreign governments but to American protestors & students entering the field of reporting & international law. I'm promoting the Journalists without Borders, which is an emerging movement that has been hampered in the past because journalists are held as American hostages indefinitely. These countries don't have the most positive relationship with the U.S., and that is what keeps foreign governments weary about allowing U.S. reporters to snoop around & make their own hasty judgments about the corrputions that occur in many foreign countries. Even though the cost of reporting the news in the darkest places of the world could result in being captured, starved & punished until the brink of death, there is also the humanistic approach that people in foreign nations who are denied their human rights deserve to have their stories told.

Place/Environment of Graffiti: As mentioned before, my graffiti would appear on protest signs on the streets in neighborhoods & in front of the White House. The graffiti would convey the irony of journalists sacrificing their lives to the idea that foreign governments are trying to limit the journalists' access to the very people that help convey these heartbreaking stories. Also, t-shirts can be worn in any places - coffee shops, band concerts & even on public transportation. So the reason for using t-shirts as a way to speak out about giving journalists more privileges is to help give the public the right to know, the benefit of the doubt lingers too much in the media.

Ignorance is NOT bliss.

Response to HK's Q

Q: "Only language tries to tell us what we see. Language does not simply, or even actually, identify things. Rather, language itself raises the question of definition." What does the author mean by that language does not "identify" things? Do you agree/disagree?

A: I agree with the author's idea that language raises the question of definition rather than identifies the object itself. In the reading, it mentioned that we read stop signs and react to the command by responding to the landscape. We don't merely read the word 'STOP' and think internally that this is the command so this is what we must do. Instead, we know there is meaning beyond the word because we've taken drivers education. We've been on the road before in situations where a 'STOP' sign signified that more than one car may be approaching an intersection & that it is best to survey our surroundings. Language in itself is literal, but it becomes more meaningful with context. And we face language in the landscape every day. We don't question road construction signs or the penalty that comes with hitting a worker. We know that beyond the words that are written on the sign, there are such things called ethics & the importance of driving safely to avoid deaths or injuries in a narrow or confined space where workers walk around.

Graffiti & Analysis

Skull Stencil on Quad

I found this skull stencil spray painted on a slab of concrete located near the back entrance of the Illini Union. The symbol of the skull suggests danger or a fair warning much as the skull in chemistry is used to identify a substance as toxic or poisonous. However, this graffiti may just be one of the fraternities making its organization known through an open forum such as the Quad. Every day I pass by the Phi Beta Kappa "Skull & Bones" fraternity house on Fourth St., and I see that same skull. Doing a little research I found out that the number '322' bears historic significance. This fraternity started at Yale University in 1832-1833 and was an all male group until 1992. Surprisingly, no where did I see this number incorporated in the graffiti. I would venture to guess that this skull graffiti appears on the Quad because the symbol itself serves as an emblem of a prestigious group (business & political or even a gang). There's a sense of elitism and marking ones territory that comes with spray painting a skull onto a concrete slab where graffiti is strictly prohibited. This space on the concrete slab is meant for people to put up flyers-- not to stencil or doodle. Since the concrete slab is a public space, the skull was surely meant to be an eye-catching work of art.

Language in the Landscape (Drucker)

1. James Elkins said, ".... the world is full of fascinating things that can be seen at leisure, when you are by yourself and there is nothing to distract you."

What everyday phenomena or thing stumps you when you see it time & time again? What do you want to discover or learn about it?

2. What do you think James Elkins meant when he said, "Once you start seeing [meaningless, ordinary things], the world-which can look so dull, so empty of interest-will gather before your eyes and become thick with meaning?"

3. In "Language in the Landscape" when Joanna Drucker said that language represents an invisible conversation, what did you think about that statement? How can dialogue exist through inanimate symbols on a sign?

Response to Dan's Q

Q: Does virtual reality allow for a full extent of free will, will it, does it allow more?

A: By definition in the readings, virtual reality allows the viewer or user to manipulate his/her POV and undergo an immersion with the actual technology. I would agree that once said person is engaged in a virtual reality tutorial, such as a video game, that person does exercise some free will in a limited forum. True, you dictate how you experience the simulation (i.e. you choose to view the virtual world upside down), but you do not control the setting or alter the program itself. Although virtual reality tries to emulate physical control, it lacks the ability to utilize all of the five senses, namely smell, taste & touch. Also, in the case where the user must react to instinct such as fight or flight tactics, he/she realizes right away that there is no actual need to fear or fight whatever obstacle stands in his/her way. The sympathetic and parasympathetic aspects of the nervous system are not fully stimulated. In order for virtual reality to enable full-extent of free will, it must be as intimate with the senses as possible & cause natural reactions to the situations presented.

Introduction; Immediacy, Hypermediacy & Remediation (Bolter & Grusin)

Discussion Questions:

1. How does making the interface presence known when surfing the Web give users an authentic experience? Does the interface detract from the aim to make the World Wide Web transparent & erase the idea that a computer is more than a mathematical web & information- filing center?

2. How can we categorize & describe immediacy v. hypermediacy using a Venn Diagram?

3. Marshall McLuhan thought of 'content' in any medium as always a representation of an older medium. For instance, print is the content of the telegraph. Do you agree or disagree? & What are your thoughts on repurposing (taking a property from one medium & reusing it in another)?

Play Day :)

Welcome to my home page! My name is Crystal Kang. I will be a sophomore at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). As a freshman I wrote for the Daily Illini. I plan to pursue a career in law & journalism.

As part of my INFORMATICS 303 class exercise, I’m honing my contemporary media skills by putting up links on my Web site. There's not much to it. You just copy & paste a URL, change it to a more reader-friendly word or phrase & BAM. You've hyperlinked a Web site!

I’m pleased to introduce to you some of my most frequently visited Web sites. For those of you who are a fan of The Office, I highly recommend you go here. You’ll find full-length episodes from season 5. Interested in music? Mellow music with a bit of punk rock is my style. Have you heard of a band called Yellowcard? A lot of their music resembles mellow bands like Postal Service, Dashboard Confessional & Secondhand Serenade. Like I said, I’m a journalist, so I frequently read up news articles on the Society of Professional Journalists. A big topic on the news that concerns me is the detainment of two U.S. reporters in North Korea. Click here for more detail. During my free time I am usually on this Web site: omgpop