Okay, this might seem odd,
BUT
as I'm finalizing my paper I can't decide whether or not the way something sounds when it reads is more important than if it sounds a bit awkward but is relevant..
Incomplete
17 years ago
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I'm not addicted to digital culture, Life goes on!
Well I'm not sure what exactly to write about when it comes to digital culture. I grew up in a school system that did not have computers in our school library, only for typing class and those computers were very old in style. I did not have a typing class in grade school, and I'm pretty sure for those students who did, there was no access to the Internet. My digital culture experience growing up was very limited. Yeah my family had TVs, radios, video game systems, etc around the house but nothing really advanced like computers that allowed Internet access. If I wanted to come close to a computer, it had to be in the city library, which was too far from home and too dangerous to walk home from after school. I'm not ashamed to say I have an old soul in a young girls body. I have low tolerance when it comes to new technology and is very comfortable with how things where before. I'm sure this makes me less popular, choosing the opposite vote of a vastly growing digital culture. So my paper probably will be about my limited youth experience with digital culture and how this has affects me today. Although digital culture has took me over walls, making life easier, its still complicating at times.
Just saw this!
This isn’t necessarily relevant to my paper but I just saw this on “House.” Ok… source aside I couldn’t resist looking this up. I wanted to share this in case it may be useful for someone’s paper.
Thanks to the digital age anyone with a pacemaker need only to call in to his doctor’s phone and the pacemaker “talks” to a computer and has the heart rate read. You can be in a third world country and call Duke University or Johns Hopkins or where ever and in seconds be recorded, tracked and diagnosed.
Digitalization has made the medical field a place straight from Sci-Fi. I think this very interesting.
Lydia
(Of course the spontaneity of being able to look up something that has absolutely no relevance to my life is also cool, and relevant to my paper.)
Thanks to the digital age anyone with a pacemaker need only to call in to his doctor’s phone and the pacemaker “talks” to a computer and has the heart rate read. You can be in a third world country and call Duke University or Johns Hopkins or where ever and in seconds be recorded, tracked and diagnosed.
Digitalization has made the medical field a place straight from Sci-Fi. I think this very interesting.
Lydia
(Of course the spontaneity of being able to look up something that has absolutely no relevance to my life is also cool, and relevant to my paper.)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Falling behind or struggling to keep up
I've already written most of my draft prior to figuring this blog out. I hinted to what my paper was going to be on with my lack of knowledge about most of this. I've written about the progression from indepence into dependence of our digital cultural. While I claim to be exempt, I joke. I'm as dependant on my laptop as the next guy. I wish to include thoughts about then and now. How things actually accomplish the same tasks yet are digitalized. ie. mapquest and cell phones. The outcome is the same but the conveinence is all important to a digital driven society. I've come up with alot of ideas. It was fairly simple, considering I lived to see it happen from "birth." Any suggestions would be great.
Lydia
Lydia
Digitial Age is Nothing New...
I am currently working with former BBC Producer, Barry Letts, on a Doctor Who story we are pretty sure will be taken by BBC Worldwide called “The Power of N-Space.”
Barry and I often discuss his life in television and it is amazing to think how things have changed in his lifetime. Barry made his TV debut in 1950. This was live television of course, monochrome on the comparatively low resolution of 405 horizontal lines. There was one station: “The BBC Television Service” broadcasting for a very few hours a day mainly to the affluent south of England. In 1950, the only way to preserve a broadcast was to make a telerecording of it. This involved pointing a camera at a monitor and recording the image shown and making an optical soundtrack. This further reduced the definition to about 270 lines. Although a little pre-WW2 output remains in the BBC archives (having launched their 405 monochrome service in 1936) with the exception of the 1948 Olympics, very little remains in the archive from 1945-1953.
As an actor, Barry found live television was especially nerve-wracking. The cameras were mainly pre-war Marconi’s, weighed several hundred pounds and were very difficult to move. The BBC’s studios at Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove were extremely small and there were frequent technical errors.
1953 was a landmark year in British Television. The coronation of a new Queen encouraged everyone to watch TV and take it seriously as a medium for the first time. As the UK emerged from post-war austerity, the television became the new thing to have. In the same year, VERA, (they love acronyms at the BBC, as we shall see) changed the way TV was made. Well, it nearly did. Video Electronic Recording Apparatus allowed, for the first time, a direct to video feed of a live broadcast for posterity and almost instant playback. However, the tape speed was measured in meters per seconds, if not set perfectly, the tape head would fly off threatening life and limb to all in the vicinity and the tape was so expensive, it soon became impractical for a television service requiring public subsidy. On the plus side, the BBC were able to obtain the old Ealing film studios and although still very expensive, location filming could now be achieved using 16mm film stock and inserted into live drama broadcasts, giving more time for actors and production crew to move between sets and so on.
The next big step was the miracle of the Helical Scan Video Machine which was introduced in the UK in 1957. By scanning fields at a diagonal angle, the amount of tape needed to record something was dramatically reduced, it also became easier to edit as more information (or data as it was then not known) was shared between frames. From the late 1950’s television drama began developing into something we recognize today. Less live performing, studio shots on video and location shots on 16mm. Though this became an issue in the color era, at this stage it did not matter. Camera technology allowed multi-camera set up’s to become more sophisticated and by 1960, live coverage of the Rome Olympics became possible. To truly see the marvel of the Helical Scan Video Machine in action one only has to see the differences between the two six-part serials produced and directed by Rudolph Cartier in 1955 and 1957. Quatermass II survives as telerecordings and has all the problems associated with early television. Numerous technical errors, badly timed cues for actors and the few filmed inserts are roughshod into the production. Just two years later, Quatermass And The Pit, (now it has been restored) looks as if it could have been made yesterday. No live performances, far superior direction and technical work and no actor fluffs.
1955 saw the birth of commercial television in the United Kingdom. Although not the purpose of this essay, with bigger budgets, television was able to be made entirely on film and had (for the time) truly groundbreaking qualities. If you don’t believe me I offer you “The Saint,” “The Avengers,” “Danger Man,” and “The Prisoner.”
After many years of pleading with the Government, Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, recognized the need for the BBC to lead the way in the UK in television technology and in 1963 commissioned BBC-2, rebranding the original BBC as BBC-1. But, there was a snag. BBC-2 was going to be high-definition…in the mid-sixties? Well, they did it and were able to do so using the existing cameras and equipment. The agreed standard was 625 line UHF as opposed to 405 line VHF (known as FM in the US.) Despite a power cut blacking out their opening night, the new high definition service became home to many music and arts programs, and just as today, there was a demand for sport in the new high resolution.
Although 405 line TV was accessible until 1985, 1969 was the date chosen by the Government for all broadcasters to switch to the 625 line format. But, before that happened, the world was going to become considerably brighter.
July 1967, Billie-Jean King was the Queen of Wimbledon and for the first time, the BBC was transmitting in color, Viewers of BBC-2 with a color television could watch Wimbledon in color and BBC-1 carried the same game in monochrome. It is sometimes asked why the BBC waited until 1967. Experiments with the American NTSC system had proved unsatisfactory (NTSC, to this day is known as Never Twice the Same Color) and as UK TV has higher definition than US TV (625 lines versus 525 lines) the problems were just compounded. Eventually, the BBC adopted the European PAL system, developed by Philips.
Barry Letts takes up the story: “When I directed the Doctor Who story, “The Enemy of the World” in 1967, it was monochrome and I was still using matte techniques I read about in the 1930’s. When BBC-1 announced the autumn schedule for 1969 would be in color, at least in prime-time, I quickly realized in my new job as Producer of Doctor Who, we could try effects which previously would have been too expensive to attempt.”
CSO (Color Separation Overlay) was the BBC’s name for chro-makey or as it is known today, the blue/green screen effect. Essentially, with CSO you can electronically key out a background and move the foreground information, (usually a person) and place them in another setting (usually a model) recorded by another camera. The actor(s) perform against a blue screen and floor and ceiling. Although time consuming to set up, the fact it can be done on video saves considerable money. For the first time, there was no need for expensive back projection using film, front axial projection on video was far easier to achieve using CSO as was the use of model monsters and huge creatures and so on. Of course, the technology was very primitive. Never did CSO look worse than when an attempt was made to mix video and film, (something the Quantel Console, did not really get to grips with until the mid eighties.) Many of the backgrounds were never quite to scale and the figures being CSO’d frequently had fringes around them which made them look incredibly cheap.
However, steady progress was made through the 1970’s and as portable video equipment became more commonplace, it was possible to film exteriors on videotape – combined with improvements in the CSO process. (It was discovered excessive noise and contrasting colors caused the fringing, for example.)
The next issue became one of film versus video. Until the early 1990’s it was still fairly common for exteriors to be filmed on 16mm film and interiors on video, The difference in the texture of the picture is very jarring. Film, although grainy, could pick up greater detail. Video was brighter, required different lighting as well as different make-up and was sensitive to certain bright colors. When programs were made on film, they were transmitted often straight from the telecine machine (which turned the film into an electronic signal) although the machines ran smoothly, the heads often became very clogged as a result, programs made in the early 1980’s entirely on film now look very work indeed. This, of course was a long time before the current fad to filmise video and vidfire film to make it look like video!
Similarly, hand held cameras have more or less destroyed the traditional TV camera set up. Digital technology now enables TV to be made on video in a similar way to film production. You can now film shot by shot instead of scene by scene or episode by episode.
Barry and I often discuss his life in television and it is amazing to think how things have changed in his lifetime. Barry made his TV debut in 1950. This was live television of course, monochrome on the comparatively low resolution of 405 horizontal lines. There was one station: “The BBC Television Service” broadcasting for a very few hours a day mainly to the affluent south of England. In 1950, the only way to preserve a broadcast was to make a telerecording of it. This involved pointing a camera at a monitor and recording the image shown and making an optical soundtrack. This further reduced the definition to about 270 lines. Although a little pre-WW2 output remains in the BBC archives (having launched their 405 monochrome service in 1936) with the exception of the 1948 Olympics, very little remains in the archive from 1945-1953.
As an actor, Barry found live television was especially nerve-wracking. The cameras were mainly pre-war Marconi’s, weighed several hundred pounds and were very difficult to move. The BBC’s studios at Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove were extremely small and there were frequent technical errors.
1953 was a landmark year in British Television. The coronation of a new Queen encouraged everyone to watch TV and take it seriously as a medium for the first time. As the UK emerged from post-war austerity, the television became the new thing to have. In the same year, VERA, (they love acronyms at the BBC, as we shall see) changed the way TV was made. Well, it nearly did. Video Electronic Recording Apparatus allowed, for the first time, a direct to video feed of a live broadcast for posterity and almost instant playback. However, the tape speed was measured in meters per seconds, if not set perfectly, the tape head would fly off threatening life and limb to all in the vicinity and the tape was so expensive, it soon became impractical for a television service requiring public subsidy. On the plus side, the BBC were able to obtain the old Ealing film studios and although still very expensive, location filming could now be achieved using 16mm film stock and inserted into live drama broadcasts, giving more time for actors and production crew to move between sets and so on.
The next big step was the miracle of the Helical Scan Video Machine which was introduced in the UK in 1957. By scanning fields at a diagonal angle, the amount of tape needed to record something was dramatically reduced, it also became easier to edit as more information (or data as it was then not known) was shared between frames. From the late 1950’s television drama began developing into something we recognize today. Less live performing, studio shots on video and location shots on 16mm. Though this became an issue in the color era, at this stage it did not matter. Camera technology allowed multi-camera set up’s to become more sophisticated and by 1960, live coverage of the Rome Olympics became possible. To truly see the marvel of the Helical Scan Video Machine in action one only has to see the differences between the two six-part serials produced and directed by Rudolph Cartier in 1955 and 1957. Quatermass II survives as telerecordings and has all the problems associated with early television. Numerous technical errors, badly timed cues for actors and the few filmed inserts are roughshod into the production. Just two years later, Quatermass And The Pit, (now it has been restored) looks as if it could have been made yesterday. No live performances, far superior direction and technical work and no actor fluffs.
1955 saw the birth of commercial television in the United Kingdom. Although not the purpose of this essay, with bigger budgets, television was able to be made entirely on film and had (for the time) truly groundbreaking qualities. If you don’t believe me I offer you “The Saint,” “The Avengers,” “Danger Man,” and “The Prisoner.”
After many years of pleading with the Government, Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, recognized the need for the BBC to lead the way in the UK in television technology and in 1963 commissioned BBC-2, rebranding the original BBC as BBC-1. But, there was a snag. BBC-2 was going to be high-definition…in the mid-sixties? Well, they did it and were able to do so using the existing cameras and equipment. The agreed standard was 625 line UHF as opposed to 405 line VHF (known as FM in the US.) Despite a power cut blacking out their opening night, the new high definition service became home to many music and arts programs, and just as today, there was a demand for sport in the new high resolution.
Although 405 line TV was accessible until 1985, 1969 was the date chosen by the Government for all broadcasters to switch to the 625 line format. But, before that happened, the world was going to become considerably brighter.
July 1967, Billie-Jean King was the Queen of Wimbledon and for the first time, the BBC was transmitting in color, Viewers of BBC-2 with a color television could watch Wimbledon in color and BBC-1 carried the same game in monochrome. It is sometimes asked why the BBC waited until 1967. Experiments with the American NTSC system had proved unsatisfactory (NTSC, to this day is known as Never Twice the Same Color) and as UK TV has higher definition than US TV (625 lines versus 525 lines) the problems were just compounded. Eventually, the BBC adopted the European PAL system, developed by Philips.
Barry Letts takes up the story: “When I directed the Doctor Who story, “The Enemy of the World” in 1967, it was monochrome and I was still using matte techniques I read about in the 1930’s. When BBC-1 announced the autumn schedule for 1969 would be in color, at least in prime-time, I quickly realized in my new job as Producer of Doctor Who, we could try effects which previously would have been too expensive to attempt.”
CSO (Color Separation Overlay) was the BBC’s name for chro-makey or as it is known today, the blue/green screen effect. Essentially, with CSO you can electronically key out a background and move the foreground information, (usually a person) and place them in another setting (usually a model) recorded by another camera. The actor(s) perform against a blue screen and floor and ceiling. Although time consuming to set up, the fact it can be done on video saves considerable money. For the first time, there was no need for expensive back projection using film, front axial projection on video was far easier to achieve using CSO as was the use of model monsters and huge creatures and so on. Of course, the technology was very primitive. Never did CSO look worse than when an attempt was made to mix video and film, (something the Quantel Console, did not really get to grips with until the mid eighties.) Many of the backgrounds were never quite to scale and the figures being CSO’d frequently had fringes around them which made them look incredibly cheap.
However, steady progress was made through the 1970’s and as portable video equipment became more commonplace, it was possible to film exteriors on videotape – combined with improvements in the CSO process. (It was discovered excessive noise and contrasting colors caused the fringing, for example.)
The next issue became one of film versus video. Until the early 1990’s it was still fairly common for exteriors to be filmed on 16mm film and interiors on video, The difference in the texture of the picture is very jarring. Film, although grainy, could pick up greater detail. Video was brighter, required different lighting as well as different make-up and was sensitive to certain bright colors. When programs were made on film, they were transmitted often straight from the telecine machine (which turned the film into an electronic signal) although the machines ran smoothly, the heads often became very clogged as a result, programs made in the early 1980’s entirely on film now look very work indeed. This, of course was a long time before the current fad to filmise video and vidfire film to make it look like video!
Similarly, hand held cameras have more or less destroyed the traditional TV camera set up. Digital technology now enables TV to be made on video in a similar way to film production. You can now film shot by shot instead of scene by scene or episode by episode.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Wandering Theme
Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a new idea for this paper every time I think about it. It's so hard for me to keep my paper on a single motif or theme at this moment that I fear my paper will be nonsensical.
Project Idea: the beginning
I’m a little late at putting up my topic but better late than never I guess. So I was thinking about what to do and was coming up short in the ideas department but then my mother calls me. She’s taking a few classes this semester and for one of her class projects, she has to do an internet research. My mother has never been the internet whiz kind of person so at one point she suggested that I do the research and mail it to her.
That idea didn’t go so well with me so I decided to coach her through it on the phone. Anyways the point is that she didn’t grow up with computers and so she’s not very enthusiastic about learning how to now. That’s when I got my idea for the paper. I want to compare the use of digital culture from where I was born and raised to where I’m at right now. I’m hoping to draw from experiences as to how I got from using a computer whenever I went to go visit my cousins ( which was every once in a blue moon) to going insane without my laptop for a weekend ( it’s sad but true).
That idea didn’t go so well with me so I decided to coach her through it on the phone. Anyways the point is that she didn’t grow up with computers and so she’s not very enthusiastic about learning how to now. That’s when I got my idea for the paper. I want to compare the use of digital culture from where I was born and raised to where I’m at right now. I’m hoping to draw from experiences as to how I got from using a computer whenever I went to go visit my cousins ( which was every once in a blue moon) to going insane without my laptop for a weekend ( it’s sad but true).
Friday, September 12, 2008
recipes for tomato soup
I've been putting off posting anything in here for-- well, let's just say it's been.. more than enough 'biting my nails and in-and-out ideas floating through my ears' days. When I got home from work tonight (where I do most of my deep daydream thinking) I had a few ideas in my head for this paper, and nowhere to really put them.
OF COURSE! THE BLOG!
So, my first thought was this weird idea about how many things are described as "digital." Digital this, digital that, analog wha? How awesome are things that are digital? I don't have to put any effort at all to telling the time, how useful! Little digital things are embedded so far into our brains, we don't even think of them as digital. Digital clock or just clock?
That's how far I got on that train to nowhere, on to something new!
The sequel is much less interesting, because I was thinking about how things that are digital affect animals. This is just a sad stem from me paying attention to how my cat seriously enjoys chasing my mouse pointer across the screen and sleeping on my keyboard all night long in the seriously bright glow of the monitor. I know she can't type, or even spell.. or.. well, you know, anything human-- at all.
My third idea was my original idea when we first got the dish about what we needed to be thinking about.
My latest online purchase was this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_is_the_Massage
Coincidentally, I stumbled upon (no really, I used the Firefox plug-in StumbleUpon) this book and decided to buy it because I really felt a connection with the subject and this course. What's so gripping about this book is that it was written so long before what I think of as modern technologies were even manufactured, but it completely captures the ideas and concepts behind a lot of the technologies that I use day to day. Right after I received the package in the mail through AMAZON.COM (internet!), I started to leaf through the book and I have to say, it's pretty entertaining. That evening at work I took a call from a woman from California who deals used cars and doesn't understand her phone bill about ordering some DISH Network service. After talking about the advantages of satellite television and shitting about some more about long distance charges, we started to talk about technology and how we viewed it as children. I'm not sure if she was completely sane or not, but she had a lot of ideas about "pre-inventions" of things we use day to day that have been realized. We talked BLUETOOTH, walkie-phones, moonboots; we mulled over vo-coders and sex toys that still were attached to electrical outlets vs. the growing market of really, really strange mechanical bull dildos on the market. Obviously, we got off the subject.
Now, I want to tie almost all of these ideas together to form something comprehensible. I think there's something underlying that I'm not seeing or grasping that I need to pull out of all of these ideas. I'm horrible at arranging ideas, but don't seem to have any shortage of useless things to find interesting in everything. See? I don't even know if that makes sense to anyone but myself.
I also littered this with links because I felt they might help deliver the meaning a bit more. Maybe I'm also in the fourth-dimension.
OF COURSE! THE BLOG!
So, my first thought was this weird idea about how many things are described as "digital." Digital this, digital that, analog wha? How awesome are things that are digital? I don't have to put any effort at all to telling the time, how useful! Little digital things are embedded so far into our brains, we don't even think of them as digital. Digital clock or just clock?
That's how far I got on that train to nowhere, on to something new!
The sequel is much less interesting, because I was thinking about how things that are digital affect animals. This is just a sad stem from me paying attention to how my cat seriously enjoys chasing my mouse pointer across the screen and sleeping on my keyboard all night long in the seriously bright glow of the monitor. I know she can't type, or even spell.. or.. well, you know, anything human-- at all.
My third idea was my original idea when we first got the dish about what we needed to be thinking about.
My latest online purchase was this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_is_the_MassageCoincidentally, I stumbled upon (no really, I used the Firefox plug-in StumbleUpon) this book and decided to buy it because I really felt a connection with the subject and this course. What's so gripping about this book is that it was written so long before what I think of as modern technologies were even manufactured, but it completely captures the ideas and concepts behind a lot of the technologies that I use day to day. Right after I received the package in the mail through AMAZON.COM (internet!), I started to leaf through the book and I have to say, it's pretty entertaining. That evening at work I took a call from a woman from California who deals used cars and doesn't understand her phone bill about ordering some DISH Network service. After talking about the advantages of satellite television and shitting about some more about long distance charges, we started to talk about technology and how we viewed it as children. I'm not sure if she was completely sane or not, but she had a lot of ideas about "pre-inventions" of things we use day to day that have been realized. We talked BLUETOOTH, walkie-phones, moonboots; we mulled over vo-coders and sex toys that still were attached to electrical outlets vs. the growing market of really, really strange mechanical bull dildos on the market. Obviously, we got off the subject.
Now, I want to tie almost all of these ideas together to form something comprehensible. I think there's something underlying that I'm not seeing or grasping that I need to pull out of all of these ideas. I'm horrible at arranging ideas, but don't seem to have any shortage of useless things to find interesting in everything. See? I don't even know if that makes sense to anyone but myself.
I also littered this with links because I felt they might help deliver the meaning a bit more. Maybe I'm also in the fourth-dimension.
I made it!
OK all! I've finally figured it out (go mo, go me). I'm here. What to do with this is still a mystery to me. This should present a hint about what my paper will be about. I'm working it all through. So far, I've been able to read the post and am currently working on figuring out how to read the comments. Is there not a way to set this up where the comments will automatically be dispayed? I'm confusing myself with flipping from screen to screen.
The long and the short of it is. I'm grateful to all of you that gave me helpful hints. I do not fight technology. I'm just a little slow to absorb it.
Lydia
The long and the short of it is. I'm grateful to all of you that gave me helpful hints. I do not fight technology. I'm just a little slow to absorb it.
Lydia
A Breathing By-Product
Even as I sit here to begin writing this, I have the computer next to me streaming videos of some of my favorite bands playing some of my favorite songs. I’m downloading several movies I never had the chance to see in theatre. I’m tabbed over from editing a picture in photoshop that I took while on vacation a few weeks ago. And I’m resisting the urge to log in to my online community under my pseudonym which people across the nation have called me by for nearly 5 years, Divo. In fact, I met my girlfriend in that online community, and it’s her computer I’m watching music videos on.
My first baby steps in to the digital community came when I waddled over the threshold of online gaming. The game was called Starcraft, and its release in 1998 would forever change the course of my life. Though that might sound a little drastic, I assure you it’s true. Before I discovered this game I had previously spent my time playing hockey, baseball, and even had a sponsor for my abilities on a skateboard. But this game…this game enraptured me and there was no escape. I played Starcraft for 4 years and have since played every expansion, offshoot, and version of it available. That was only the beginning though. I own hundreds of games; most of them with their own unique online communities.
As I said before, I met my girlfriend online. We’ve been together for 3 years now and I feel like she’s perfect for me. Meeting her online was a boon to the relationship. Sure we met one another through pixilated versions of our subconscious. Our first conversations were private messages over online chat. We were inseparable in a virtual world. We’re now inseparable in the great state of
I feel as though my life is stored on hard drives to be erased or appended to at whim. Strangely, this does not bother me. I leave my digital footprints all over the internet every day. Sitting down at my computer feels like opening my front door and greeting the world every day. But every time I open that door there are different people behind it. The uncertainty begets the addiction.
I knew at an early age that my contribution to digital culture would be a lifelong ordeal. I only hope that as technology advances I will adapt to it and utilize it as fully as I do at this very moment in time. We are in a time of rapidly changing communication, culture, and sense of self. It enthralls me to think about what I’ll be doing ten years from now in the online community that grows larger every day.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
GLBT Literature and Issues on the Net
This is my second post, I know but I wanted to throw out another idea I had since Im leaning more toward it the more I thought about it.It would follow the rise of GLBT(Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered) literature and awareness because of the expansion of the internet.I would try to answer questions I personally and other I know have about why with the rise of all different genres of literature have skyrocketed but the GLBT literature still remains relatively untouched, especially in America.Is it because the subject is still so taboo in America unlike many other contries? I know its not because there is no calling for the market, on the contrary there is a HUGE demand umong not only the GLBT community but others who are just curious about things, want more information about that "lifestyle" (as much as I hate that term), those who may not be in that community themselves but are supporters and advocates for the causes.So maybe someone could give me some ideas as to why they believe GLBT works and authors are highly ignored in our society despite the new avalibility of it.The paper would likely also include some touch points on how the media, with help of the internet and technology, have helped, for better or worse, bring issues that effect GLBT's lives to the mainstreme.It seems as though I cannot go a day without hearing about these debates, like gay marriage, civil unions, healthcare for children in same sex relationships, etc. Before the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections these issues were pushed to the backburner or simply ignored all together.Has the internet and technology helped push these issues to the forefront? Has it hindered the fight for equality? Any ideas or questions that anyone has or believes would be good for me to address in my paper would be highly appericated.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Has the digital culture dumbed us down?
Writing for another class, I wrote an essay and realized all my heroes as broadcasters were now old, retired, dead or a combination of all three. Has digital culture reduced us to only being able to function with talking heads in set words? These were my thoughts...
I wish to be a broadcaster. And I am not going to end up as the next Trevor Macdonald or Jim McKay by limiting the power of my vocabulary. A great command of the English language will make me stand out in a field filled with talking heads and ex-jocks who speak in sound bites and cliché.
Turn on any news or sport network and by and large the reporters look, sound and frequently act alike. I am not talking about going on camera as a clown and guffawing my way through terror attacks or the final of the Olympic 400 meters, but I am saying there is a better way of announcing, especially in the realm of sports broadcasting, which has been all but abandoned in America in favor of what the late Howard Cosell called the “jockocracy” of American sports broadcasting.
What transpired would turn Cosell in his grave. Sports presenting and analysis has become tabloid journalism punctuated by ex-athletes who clearly do not always make the best journalists.
However, the wheel will turn full circle and I believe there will be a time in the future when serious sports reporting and journalism, not driven by platitudes and sensationalism will once again be required in mainstream television and radio.I have become something of a mentor to the would-be announcers I have met at University and am frequently asked online by other would-be announcers for tips and advice.
Often they are questions which our book covered like: “How do you get into this field?” or “How do you prepare your research?” and of course “What is the pay like?”
When I write back or talk to these (usually teenage) people, I emphasize the importance of being able to describe a situation using correct and concise English. I try to advise them to become well read and develop a passion for words and their usage. You do not have to become a walking thesaurus but you do need the ability to pull the right word out of the hat, especially when under pressure.
For example, I have always loved Horse Racing, but at the age of thirty-two, if I am to become a full time Race Announcer upon leaving University, it will be my experience of using English in other dramatic forms and contexts that will form the backbone of my ability as a broadcaster. This, I believe will help me to stand out in a very competitive market.
As you may have guessed, this generation of American Sports Broadcasters does not impress me, although they have their entertaining moments. I seriously think many of them would lack the ability to put any kind of non sporting event into a global context – many of them struggle with that basic concept, truly embracing the Superbowl winners as “World Champions” of a sport which barely creates a blip on the sporting radar outside of North America.
Sports anchoring should not be rooted in how well you can read the list of sponsors, pontificate about Tiger Woods as the equivalent of the second coming of Christ and how proficient one can be at speaking in jargon filled jingoism. Similarly, sports analysis, should not be punctuated by “personalities” whose lack of ability to concisely explain what is going on is overcome by them saying things such as “Boom,” “Slam-a-roonie” or making excruciating puns about the names of the participants.
If a major news event was to occur at a sporting event, who would best be able to cover it…Jim McKay (if he were still alive and active in the business) or Chris Berman? There are a few exceptions, Al Michaels proved his journalistic mettle outside the sports arena at the San Francisco earthquake, and I feel Brent Musberger would be ok as well. But they are all older guys nearing the end of their active careers.
Maybe I will be the victim of my own advice as I do not claim to be the greatest broadcaster in the world, but I do feel I am doing the industry a service by encouraging would be announcers to look beyond the announcing booth of their favorite sports and become part of the world of words and literature that surrounds them. They can then return to the booth, wiser and one day, it may pay off.
One day I will be able to use the skills I learned through ha study of an English language and maybe inspire somebody and follow in the footsteps of great wordsmiths and not over-hyped personalities. The same comparison could also apply to me in changing from a Communications Major to an English Major.
A final thought: Jim McKay passed on this past summer. I was part of a small tribute to him shown in the Minnesota area. God, I feel old, chances are a lot of you will have no idea of whom I am speaking of... Nearly fifty years of sports broadcasting, yet his most famous words referred to a non sporting incident which will haunt many people forever and illustrates why every would be sports reporter needs to know more than how to announce a sport:
“When I was a kid, my father used to say out greatest hopes and our worse fears are seldom realized. Our worse fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms, this mor…yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”
I wish to be a broadcaster. And I am not going to end up as the next Trevor Macdonald or Jim McKay by limiting the power of my vocabulary. A great command of the English language will make me stand out in a field filled with talking heads and ex-jocks who speak in sound bites and cliché.
Turn on any news or sport network and by and large the reporters look, sound and frequently act alike. I am not talking about going on camera as a clown and guffawing my way through terror attacks or the final of the Olympic 400 meters, but I am saying there is a better way of announcing, especially in the realm of sports broadcasting, which has been all but abandoned in America in favor of what the late Howard Cosell called the “jockocracy” of American sports broadcasting.
What transpired would turn Cosell in his grave. Sports presenting and analysis has become tabloid journalism punctuated by ex-athletes who clearly do not always make the best journalists.
However, the wheel will turn full circle and I believe there will be a time in the future when serious sports reporting and journalism, not driven by platitudes and sensationalism will once again be required in mainstream television and radio.I have become something of a mentor to the would-be announcers I have met at University and am frequently asked online by other would-be announcers for tips and advice.
Often they are questions which our book covered like: “How do you get into this field?” or “How do you prepare your research?” and of course “What is the pay like?”
When I write back or talk to these (usually teenage) people, I emphasize the importance of being able to describe a situation using correct and concise English. I try to advise them to become well read and develop a passion for words and their usage. You do not have to become a walking thesaurus but you do need the ability to pull the right word out of the hat, especially when under pressure.
For example, I have always loved Horse Racing, but at the age of thirty-two, if I am to become a full time Race Announcer upon leaving University, it will be my experience of using English in other dramatic forms and contexts that will form the backbone of my ability as a broadcaster. This, I believe will help me to stand out in a very competitive market.
As you may have guessed, this generation of American Sports Broadcasters does not impress me, although they have their entertaining moments. I seriously think many of them would lack the ability to put any kind of non sporting event into a global context – many of them struggle with that basic concept, truly embracing the Superbowl winners as “World Champions” of a sport which barely creates a blip on the sporting radar outside of North America.
Sports anchoring should not be rooted in how well you can read the list of sponsors, pontificate about Tiger Woods as the equivalent of the second coming of Christ and how proficient one can be at speaking in jargon filled jingoism. Similarly, sports analysis, should not be punctuated by “personalities” whose lack of ability to concisely explain what is going on is overcome by them saying things such as “Boom,” “Slam-a-roonie” or making excruciating puns about the names of the participants.
If a major news event was to occur at a sporting event, who would best be able to cover it…Jim McKay (if he were still alive and active in the business) or Chris Berman? There are a few exceptions, Al Michaels proved his journalistic mettle outside the sports arena at the San Francisco earthquake, and I feel Brent Musberger would be ok as well. But they are all older guys nearing the end of their active careers.
Maybe I will be the victim of my own advice as I do not claim to be the greatest broadcaster in the world, but I do feel I am doing the industry a service by encouraging would be announcers to look beyond the announcing booth of their favorite sports and become part of the world of words and literature that surrounds them. They can then return to the booth, wiser and one day, it may pay off.
One day I will be able to use the skills I learned through ha study of an English language and maybe inspire somebody and follow in the footsteps of great wordsmiths and not over-hyped personalities. The same comparison could also apply to me in changing from a Communications Major to an English Major.
A final thought: Jim McKay passed on this past summer. I was part of a small tribute to him shown in the Minnesota area. God, I feel old, chances are a lot of you will have no idea of whom I am speaking of... Nearly fifty years of sports broadcasting, yet his most famous words referred to a non sporting incident which will haunt many people forever and illustrates why every would be sports reporter needs to know more than how to announce a sport:
“When I was a kid, my father used to say out greatest hopes and our worse fears are seldom realized. Our worse fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms, this mor…yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”
Project One Ideas
When I first heard of the topics we were going to cover in this class, I immediately began considering my role in online gaming and overall the role I had in digital culture. Since fall of 2004, I've been a subscribing member to World of Warcraft. For as long as I can remember, I've always played online games and associated with those people. While I was younger I was only interested in the games themselves and what I could get accomplished with other players. As I've gotten older I've begun to realize that some of these people are much cooler behind their online avatars. There are always different types of people to meet and play with when you're playing an online game that supports hundreds of players on one server. My girlfriend and I enjoy playing World of Warcraft together and have friendships we've built with other players inside the game. These relationships and settings for online interaction are the foundation for my first project.
Project 1 Ideas
I too have been bouncing various ideas about about this first project.I have narrowed it down to two main thoughts. My first is how our mistakes are made much more public these days because of advanced technology and recources avaliable at the touch of a button. My other main idea is how some people are shot into the limelight with websites like youtube and myspace that would likely never had their "15 minutes of fame" without them.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Thoughts About Project 1
Hey everyone!
I too, have been contemplating what to write about for this first project. I’ve finally settled on the idea of on the ways we depend on technology in today’s society. I had a horrifying experience about 9 years ago that single-handedly defined major aspects of my life – specifically the ways in which I relate to others, not to mention how I felt about myself for a very, very long time. The technology impacted the entire series of events because I relied on an object to get me out of a situation instead of my own “know-how”. On-the-other-hand, had I been in the same situation a few months later, everyone I knew would have had cell phones instead of super lame pagers. Having a cell phone would have definitely changed how everything developed because I could have left an actual message to ask for help, instead of some random phone number with “911” after it.
It seems as if today we view our cell phones, Sidekicks, laptops, and other endless hand-held devices as if they are part of us. I know I feel extremely anxious if I don’t have my cell phone with me at all times. Is this healthy? Cell phones are awesome, but do they seriously have to be answered in class, or in the movie theater, or in church? C’mon now, that’s just ridiculous! Aside from people annoying me with their cell phone etiquette, or lack there of, I have also noticed that my memory is crap these days…maybe that’s because I don’t have to remember anything - I have an organizer to remember everything for me! Is the issue that we can't help but to take everything to an extreme or are we just too lazy to do anything for ourselves?
I too, have been contemplating what to write about for this first project. I’ve finally settled on the idea of on the ways we depend on technology in today’s society. I had a horrifying experience about 9 years ago that single-handedly defined major aspects of my life – specifically the ways in which I relate to others, not to mention how I felt about myself for a very, very long time. The technology impacted the entire series of events because I relied on an object to get me out of a situation instead of my own “know-how”. On-the-other-hand, had I been in the same situation a few months later, everyone I knew would have had cell phones instead of super lame pagers. Having a cell phone would have definitely changed how everything developed because I could have left an actual message to ask for help, instead of some random phone number with “911” after it.
It seems as if today we view our cell phones, Sidekicks, laptops, and other endless hand-held devices as if they are part of us. I know I feel extremely anxious if I don’t have my cell phone with me at all times. Is this healthy? Cell phones are awesome, but do they seriously have to be answered in class, or in the movie theater, or in church? C’mon now, that’s just ridiculous! Aside from people annoying me with their cell phone etiquette, or lack there of, I have also noticed that my memory is crap these days…maybe that’s because I don’t have to remember anything - I have an organizer to remember everything for me! Is the issue that we can't help but to take everything to an extreme or are we just too lazy to do anything for ourselves?
Repeat of Below Titles
I have apprehensions about posting about my project ideas. To somewhat echo Craig's sentiments, I feel like people reading my drafts or picking through my ideas is kind of like being caught half naked and having someone point out your flaws. :p
I guess that would make Dr. J.P. and her bar friends a bunch of nudists, eh? I guess it's something you have to become comfortable with over time. I once read something by an author in a book about creative writing who stated that she would lie awake in terror at night that someone might break in and read her partially created story if she left it out on the typewriter. I can relate to that.
In any case.
I guess I'm pretty involved in the "digital culture." I'm part of a group brought together by the Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan. They're novels of the Fantasy genre, which I never would have read but my husband convinced me they were worth a try, despite my loathing of Fantasy. He was right, they were very good.
When I joined the site, I had just moved to this part of the state from Concord University. I hated the school, but a I had a lot of friends there, so the move hit me pretty hard. Forum posting and chat (the site has an IRC webchat) kept my social meter up (you'll get that if you've ever played the Sims.) I didn't really know anyone here, I wasn't in school yet, and I couldn't work since I didn't have my greencard. I was pretty lonely, and the site I joined kept me from falling into depression. I've since grown to really care about these people; a few I've met in person and I plan to meet many more in October.
Anyway, here's the link if you're interested: http://www.tarvalon.net/news.asp
I guess that would make Dr. J.P. and her bar friends a bunch of nudists, eh? I guess it's something you have to become comfortable with over time. I once read something by an author in a book about creative writing who stated that she would lie awake in terror at night that someone might break in and read her partially created story if she left it out on the typewriter. I can relate to that.
In any case.
I guess I'm pretty involved in the "digital culture." I'm part of a group brought together by the Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan. They're novels of the Fantasy genre, which I never would have read but my husband convinced me they were worth a try, despite my loathing of Fantasy. He was right, they were very good.
When I joined the site, I had just moved to this part of the state from Concord University. I hated the school, but a I had a lot of friends there, so the move hit me pretty hard. Forum posting and chat (the site has an IRC webchat) kept my social meter up (you'll get that if you've ever played the Sims.) I didn't really know anyone here, I wasn't in school yet, and I couldn't work since I didn't have my greencard. I was pretty lonely, and the site I joined kept me from falling into depression. I've since grown to really care about these people; a few I've met in person and I plan to meet many more in October.
Anyway, here's the link if you're interested: http://www.tarvalon.net/news.asp
project 1 ideas
When this project was first assigned i worried about how i may tackle it, i looked at several approaches and ended up with several pages of scratched out words and phrases. My first instinct was the fact that technology influences someones image of their self or others. I personally have been involved with problems with the medias influence on body image. I was thinking about focusing my paper on how the digital culture has influenced our perception of ourselves and of others, as well as how it has effected our college, academics, and even how we meet each other and interact. Myspace and facebook are two big examples of how we meet each other and become friends with people we have never seen. Has anyone stopped ti question if these people they meet online are really the person they say they are? Also, has anyone noticed that since the digital culture has boomed over the past ten years that the obesity of our children is greatly on the rise? i believe there is a link somewhere there that i believe may be good to include in my paper. I too am not that involved in digital culture outside of myspace and occasionally facebook, which i use mostly to email friends and keep up to date with what is going on with everyone.
Project #1
Hello all! Well I've been brainstorming and brainstorming ideas for Project #1 and so far I have come up with a few ideas but I don't know...I'm so indecisive. First and foremost I would like you all to know that I am not one for being involved in "Digital Culture" as an extremist (internet wise). I simply use the internet to check my MySpace, Facebook, e-mail, and occasionally look for a good buy on eBay. However, since I've been in this classroom I have been introduced to several other outlets to the web. For example, this blog. Yes, it's true I've never blogged before and to be honest it's quite refreshing! However, I am involved in "Digital Culture" through the cell phone. Oh my, I am obsessed with texting; however I hate talking on the phone, ironic huh? So for Project #1 I am considering using the cell phone and not being a big partaker on the internet and use it to my advantage, what's your thoughts? Perhpas writing on how I could expand my horizons of the net? Any comments would be helpful!
Project 1 Thoughts
Over the past week, I have struggled on what topic to write for this first project. I have questioned myself millions of times what exactly is my role in the digital culture? Moreover, I even told my fellow classmates, "hey, I don't really have a digital role, all I do is check my e-mail, my myspace, and facebook." But it is clear I do have a role in the digital culture, I just wasn't realizing it. Technology has definitely changed my life in manys ways I can't even imagine. So for project 1, I have decided to write my paper about the dangers of online dating and how this has affected me. Although this may be a controversial issue for some, I hope to support my reasons by using my past experience of online dating. This is such a tough issue for me to talk about, but I truly want to share this experience to everybody because I want people to know that technology can also have its negative effects. Besides the negative impact technology has placed on me, I am willing to understand and listen to others on how technology has played a positive role in people's lives.
Ideas for Project 1
Being a non-traditional student has presented several challenges for me during my college career. Specifically, the assumption that we are all on the same level technologically. If you haven't guessed yet, I'm not tech savvy on any level. Therefore, I thought about writing my paper discussing my battle with computers, cell phones, Mp3 players and so on. I mean, just keeping up to date is a battle. Think about it, the moment you purchase the newest hottest cell phone with all the bells and whistles, it's outdated and replaced with something even better. I can't keep up.
I think one of the issues I want to discuss it how technology was introduced to me back in the day. And, how hard it was to accept the changes, even today I struggle with keeping up to date with all there is out there. For example, this is the very first time I have ever been on a blog chat. How bazaar is that.
Suggestions are welcomed. Lisa.
I think one of the issues I want to discuss it how technology was introduced to me back in the day. And, how hard it was to accept the changes, even today I struggle with keeping up to date with all there is out there. For example, this is the very first time I have ever been on a blog chat. How bazaar is that.
Suggestions are welcomed. Lisa.
Monday, September 8, 2008
thoughts for project 1
I haven't really thought about exactly how I want to do my paper, but I do know that instead of writing about one specific experience I want to write more general thoughts about how technology is such a big part of my everyday life. I can't think back of a time where I was in college and didn't have a computer or internet, but I can explore how technology has changed and continues to change and whether or not it has impacted me.
This is where i am as of now and within the next few days I plan to have gathered my thoughts and started my paper :)
This is where i am as of now and within the next few days I plan to have gathered my thoughts and started my paper :)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
But if I tell you how I do it...
Hi People:
Rejoice! I shall not be in class tomorrow as I am being carted off with a group of Cheerleaders to commentate on WVSU in the Chicago Classic this weekend. I know you will all miss me...
I definitely dislike free writing - but I dislike even more showing it on a public board. As my second favortite incarantion of The Doctor (see above) played by Patrick Troughton maintained:
"Acting is like magic If I show you how I do it, it spoils the illusion." I feel very much the same way about writing. Think of the times you have had to give a presentation - although notes are a safety net, if you can commit to memory what you are going to say, you can then concentrate on other aspects of your work to bring the presentation to life. The same goes with writing. Don't show them how you got to your literary masterpiece...just know it well enough so you can wow them with your delivery.
Any thoughts?
Craig
Weclome
Hello all and welcome to the blogspot for English 303!
This is of course our second blog, the first one decided that we were spammers and not to be trusted....that is definately a topic for conversation in class!
Here you will post your blogging inventions, that is some pre-writing for your projects. How you pre-write is up to you, but you will need to post it here. See the directions for posting located on the side bar. You have all been invited to be participates in thus blog so you will be able to post and comment. You will be expected not only to post invention writing for your projects, but also comment on your classmates inventions. This is the place to work out your projects so while you must post once per project, you can also post as much as you like (granted the postings are about class and project topics!
Have fun!
This is of course our second blog, the first one decided that we were spammers and not to be trusted....that is definately a topic for conversation in class!
Here you will post your blogging inventions, that is some pre-writing for your projects. How you pre-write is up to you, but you will need to post it here. See the directions for posting located on the side bar. You have all been invited to be participates in thus blog so you will be able to post and comment. You will be expected not only to post invention writing for your projects, but also comment on your classmates inventions. This is the place to work out your projects so while you must post once per project, you can also post as much as you like (granted the postings are about class and project topics!
Have fun!
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