Blogging October 15, 2007

I really can’t believe that I am actually blogging even though we no longer have class. I never thought I would actually enjoy the whole bloggoiong idea, but I find myself wanting to discuss the new issues that we are dealing with in our class and how different each one is and how they actually relate in the end. Blogging isn’t as bad as I thought it was and I guess thats good thing…haha. Who would have thought?

Issues in Writing

It is very interesting to go from such an advanced form of writing too learning about what writing actually is. In our first day of our second module we were told to write, yea actually WRITE not type..haha, a list of why we write and why we study writing. It is interesting to see where writing comes from and its actually history after learning about its actual present and future that we are actually involved in today. I have realized that our generation is a more laid back environment. We don’t like to work too hard and we would rather be able to complete tasks in seconds rather then actually taking the time out to think through the writing process. Of course we hate doing revisions, our minds are use to the theory, when its done it’s done. Hopefully throughout this new module we will better understand what it means to write and how writing is used everyday and how it is actually an extremely social process.

Visual Rhetoric October 7, 2007

Notes on Visual Rhetoric is a somewhat complicated article on the war between the visual and the textual. The authors of the article believe that there is should be no separation of the two The larger problem, perhaps, is that we have isolated textuality, turned it into something that requires its own model, which we then apply indiscriminately to other media. If, as Mitchell claims, all media are actually” mixed media,” we should bring textuality and visuality together, really together, before wepull them apart. What would be the point of separating the two? Text will always be an important source of communication. Although technology is opening up various ways to manipulate text and the visual aspects of reality. There are st6ill standards that have to be met. For instrance interviews, resumes, technical terminology etc. all have specifics that can’t be deviated from. Actually I believe that the visual aspects have created a better environment for those who don’t like to read. In Diane Penrods’ Blogs As A New Writing Genre,she sees blogging as a way for kids to learn. Through these wireless and wired means, blogs show that students- regardless of age- have a deep interest in the written word. Students want to write, to share information, to research and read. But they want to do so on their own terms, not necessarily those that schools and colleges outline for them.” (P. 46)I agree. My daughter hates to read but she will blog on My Space for hours at time. Her typing skills have improved and I’m sure all the reading helps to keep her mind sharp. The two cannot be separated.Rhetoric: the art of effectively using language including the use of figures of speech.Visual: Of or pertaining to seeing or sight. Visuals– Photographs, films, charts, picture elements etc…I looked up the term Visual Rhetoric in the dictionary: It wasn’t there. At least not in the Webster’s college DictionaryThis article sheds light on our reading of the Vocabulary of Comics. I enjoy reading comics. Many of them use pragmatics, metaphors idioms and other types of linguistic aspects to capture details . Visuals help clear up the meaning of what’s going on in the comics. The two work together to relay a message. The authors bring up some strong questions in paragraph 6, that will plague our thinking as we advance further into cyberspace. “How does the visual communicate meaning?…how do we interpret the visual world?. Do we interpret words an differently that we do visual images? If so, what’s the difference? And what’s rhetorical about this process?” How do we answer these questions?   -Petisa

TAGGING PROBLEMS

TAGS! TAGS! TAGS!!!!!!!!Tags can be confusing. I don’t know about anyone else but tags and categories seem like the same thing to me. There were a lot of questions in class on Wednesday about them. After reading Folksonamies-Cooperative Classification and communication Through Shared Meta data, by Adam Mathes, I got more of an understanding of them. The article starts off confusing my confusion. After reading it a second time it started to make more sense. On pag 6 he defines categorization- “Categorization is generally less rigorous and boundaries are less clear.” On page 3, he gives specific instructions on using tags in Del.icio.us. “Del.icio.us is not unique or pioneering in its role as bookmarks manager. What seems to be relatively new and different is the emphasis on user added keywords as a fundamental organizational construct. These keywords, which are referred to as “tags” on the site, allow users to describe and organize content with any vocabulary they choose. He goes on the compare Flickr and Del.icio.us to each other based on what users are able to do on each site. Pretty soon campuses around the world will be offering courses titled TAG 101. The following is a set of terms that will be of great importance. Tag-aholic– needs no explanation. Tag-itis– inflamation of your metadata. For me, it’s going to take some practice, so here goes. I’m going to (attempt) to add some tags.- Petisa

MOVING ON

Well that was a quick four weeks. It’s hard to believe we are moving on to the next module. At this rate the semester will be over before you know it. I can’t wait to take the writin and Tewchnology course since it’s an extension of this course. We have a lot to finish over the weekend- at least I do. The next assignment is already posted and waiting. OMG, I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’ve been up since 3a.m. trying to figure out some of this material. I’m ready for a nap. -Petisa

TAG CLOUDS

The tag cloud is a great tool for users to get a quick visual of what a particular blog is about. It could really save the user time by allowing one to decide if it’s something we want to continue reading. The clouds give the words a highlighted pictureof what to expect. I went to the web site http://www.tagcrowd.com to create a tag cloud — the only thing is I can’t figure out how to incorporate it into the wordpress blogs page.If anyone else was able to do so, maybe you can post the directions for me.-Petisa

It is over October 5, 2007

This module was very fun and interesting. I learned a lot about the internet and all the possibilities. And even though I was very unsure about the whole blogging thing, I enjoyed it while it lasted. Im gonna miss getting to be on the computer during class! Hopefully now I can use all the different aspects of the Internet to my advantage as I continue my education!

Overview of Module 1

Wow!! I cannot believe that the first module is already over! It really seems like just yesterday we split up into groups. I’ve been thinking a lot about this class and I must be honest when I say I have learned more in four weeks than I have in any of my other classes so far this semester. No lie. As I have already mentioned, I am very technology illiterate so reading all the required articles opened my eyes up to a whole new world of opportunities. Also, the information that we learned in class, as well as the different sites we’ve been introduced to and have registered for prove to be very beneficial internet sources. I am absolutely amazed how far the internet has come and how it is still on the advance. At the same time, I am shocked at some of the things that the web offers us that people partake in that can be disadvantages, whether we realize them or not.

            Going back to what I was saying about learning more in this class than any other one I have so far, I must also touch base upon the fact that the book (that we clearly didn’t need in this module) was only about $10 as opposed to the $80 or more I have spent on my other required texts. It is funny how things work out sometimes. Everything I needed for this class was provided for me on the web, at an easy access. I guess that is the point…to show us how technology is benefiting us in many many ways. I would always print the articles from the Mimosa computer lab, which was free. This just goes to show, in another sense, how the internet can be very informative and beneficial for us in providing material we need for free. The internet is not only an excellent source for receiving information, but for posting it as well. Dr. Wolff has introduced us to many different sources that allow us to communicate with other users, speak our minds, and develop our own personal profiles and spaces at our own convenience.

            I can remember the first day of class when we watched the Shift Happens video and we saw how quickly technology was pretty much taking over our lives. I can see how this is relevant to us now, and I am pretty anxious to see where it’s going. Also, I would just like to comment that I find it pretty cool that we are the first class to ever have this Introduction to Writing Arts experience, and I am very impressed with the deliverance of the material up until this point. I am sad to be leaving this module because I honestly enjoyed going to this class, but I am also looking forward to whatever is next on our agenda J

                                               -Amanda

Zotero

Class Wednesday was really informative for me. It reminded me of a discussion we had in class in the beginning of this module where Dr. Wolff was asking us what we did with our information so we could always refer to it later. How would you be able to access a page you referenced possibly years after you used it for a paper? Back then, no one really had an answer. Wednesday, however, we took a look at Zotero, which is a site that allows us to save documents we find online through databases or other forms of research, bookmark them, and even tag them with key words that will allow us to find the specific information later. After doing that, the site would forever remain on your computer and at the click of the mouse, you could find that article whenever you wanted without having to go through all the hassle of trying to remember where you got it from. This, to me, is amazing because I, for one, do not like doing research. Even more so, I do not like having to take extensive notes while doing research. With this tool, and other ones like it, the time it takes to find information later on is greatly reduced, making our projects less stressful and annoying. I’m sure, beyond this class, I will put this tool to good use J

I am very technology illiterate, so learning about all these new things is pretty exciting for me. Yeaa… I’m a complete dork. hahaha

                                                                       -Amanda

Presentations October 4, 2007

I thought that the presentations on Wednesday were extremely interesting. Getting introduced to those different tool including goodreads and zotera made me think about why I wasn’t aware of them before. Zotera is an amazing tool that many students would surely take advantage of if they were actually aware of what it was. It allows you to take credible information and save it instead of having to take notes for a research project. I for one hate taking notes and was very glad that I now know how to take advantage of Zotera and the other sites and programs that are available on the Internet. Doing these presentation it made me think a lot about what else the Internet may offer us that we are totally unaware of. There are so many possibilities on the Internet and it is unfortunate that many people do not take the time to search for them and essentially make their lives a lot easier. Hopefully our presentations will get the word out and some of us can tell our friends how cool the Internet really is.