After reading both of the articles on blogs, and the web comic, I feel like I have a better understanding of our general lesson on rhetorical strategies and how different mediums provide different types of strategies that can be employed in making your point. The article, The Practice of News Blogging by Axel Bruns, and Journalists and News Bloggers: Complements, Contradictions, and Challanges by Jane B. Singer gave me a better understanding on the important role the blogosphere is making its' way in our modern society and how it is changing journalism. The articles clearly pointed out how blogs is changing the news media, and how it affects us, but more importantly what role it plays in politics, and also in American democracy. In short, news blogging provides a more democratic medium in which people can collectively voice their opinions on different topics.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Detroit Electronic Music Festival DEMF 2011
Bass drops. That's what Dubstep is about. The Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF 2011) was held this weekend at Hart Plaza from friday to sunday. One of the most popular Dubstep (genre) artist named Skrillex was performing. It was amazing. He played some of top tunes and it was a great night out with friends. Each venue had it's own artist and the Dubstep artists were right next to Hart Plaza itself. There were a total of four venues playing at once. Anyways for those of you who are unfamiliar with this genre of music, here is an song that was played at the festival.
Song: Cragga Mr.Postman (Dubstep Remix), sampled from Please Mr.Postman by The Marvelettes.
Cragga - Mr Postman by Dubstep
Shooting War
Shooting War by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman is a fiction comic novel that depicts the future of the U.S in the face of terror mainly in Iraq. The comic follows the main character Jimmy Burns, who earned his fame in the media by the use of blogging. The premise of the comic is that he is sent to Iraq as a journalist by the biggest TV company, and he is there to cover the complex war between Iraqi terrorist groups and the United States Army.
Throughout the first part of the comic, political views are clearly conveyed by the author. The author clearly takes an anti-republican, and anti-monopoly stance on the current political ‘status quo’ of our country both at home and overseas. There are many examples where symbolism is used in order to send a message to the audience on anti-right wing, and anti-monopolistic view. For example, many different global chain restaurants are depicted to be at presence in Iraq, which in fact is very satirical. Another example of this would be the W Hotel, one of the most luxurious but more importantly one of the most expensive hotel chains in today’s standards, is depicted to be present in Iraq, which is very satirical since there are hundreds and thousands of Iraqi civilians who are suffering every day.
Comic books have different types of rhetorical strategies that can be very effective. In comic books the author is painting the picture for you, so the context of what you are reading and seeing can only be interpreted in a limited number of ways, whereas in a book, the context of a story can be interpreted in many different ways. So in fact, if an author is trying to pursue you of a certain point or argument, a comic book is a great way to convince the reader. A great rhetorical strategy that comic books often contain is imagery and symbolism. As mentioned earlier, Shooting War used many symbolic imagery to mock at western international companies (namely Starbucks, McDonalds, etc…). This rhetorical strategy is pretty much exclusive in comic books, and movies.
http://shootingwar.com/webcomic/
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Obama's Speech on Race
Obama’s speech on race truly illuminates the entity of the United States today. He combines many different aspects of the U.S in order to convey a message to all Americans that through unity, hope, and change, America will become more prosperous with less racism.
In the opening lines of Obama’s speech on race, he compared the historical context of the U.S constitution to the ‘status quo’ of American society today. He said that the U.S constitution at the time of its’ creation was unfinished, and imperfect, just like our nation is today; plagued with economic racism and racial inequalities. “The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least 20 more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations...This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this presidential campaign — to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.” (Obama, Barack. Transcript: Barack Obama's Speech on Race). He then adds to the notion that we the people should continue working for a better American society based on historical events that shape our modern society.
Obama lays out a number of logical points that explains the mechanism of racism in America today. He articulates that people from all races face hardships and inequality, and also understands that frustration coming from all races including white Americans, is a valid one. He then adds to the notion that as Americans we all have the same problems and through unity, we will improve our society.
Lastly, Obama also talks about his own personal experiences and briefly mentions his book Dreams From My Father. He talks about his early experiences at Trinity church, in which he became a Christian. Trinity church as described by Obama was a mix of different emotion and different people just like our American society today. He created a feeling of mutual understanding and a common ground for every one. In addition, in the last paragraph, he strengthens his notion of unity by telling the audience of a personal anecdote.
Thoughts on Summer classes.
Taking courses during the summer is not easy, especially when the weather is unpredictable. However, learning about technology in an English class makes everything more interesting. Our teacher told us that not only will we combine technology in our English course, but also be able to watch a couple of movies during our course. The two other courses I am taking are all very bland and standard textbook-learning. My courses during this summer however are not bad at all.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Technology Writing Reading
Our first assignment in class was to read about Technology Writing, (Introduction to The Best Technology Writing 2010 By Dibbell, Julian, Introduction Best Technology Writing of 2009 by Johnson, Steven, and Inventing the Medium by Murray, H. Janet). The two introductory readings brought many great thoughts and knowledge that I contemplated. Inventing the Medium by Murray, H Janet, however was a little more difficult to grasp at first. I had to re-read phrases that I did not fully understand in order to get the gist of it, however, Janet’s piece became very interesting once I did understand what she was trying to convey to me.
Julian Dibbell’s Introduction to The Best Technology Writing 2010 dips into the argument of whether or not Technology Writing is a good development of technology for humanity. Julian Dibbell starts off her introduction by comparing famous philosophers such as Socrates, Thamus, and Theuth’s argument over the technology of written language, and how these philosophers argued if written language was detrimental or positive to humanity, and how it is basically the same argument in this day and age over technology writing. Dibbell also talks about the innate nature of humans to use tools as a mechanism for survival and evolution, and how that is tied in together with our affection towards technology. Dibbell concludes with some positive insight on blogs, and compares Socrates’s philosophy of “true knowledge” to blogs.
In Introduction the Best Technology Writing of 2009 by Steven Johnson, Johnson gave me an insight on how technology writing has changed us and how it has changed the style of writing online. He introduced me to the differences in how we read today compared to decades ago. He also brought about the topic of how new technology writing is changing the way we read and what we read. In addition, he compared the way we read today, to how we read decades ago by comparing it to rural areas as to a city.
Janet H. Murray’s Inventing the Medium portrayed a good history of how computer and technology writing came about but more importantly made me critically think about two hypothetical theories on developing technologies to improve the human condition. Humanists and Engineers are the two conflicting viewpoints that the author talks about, Humanists contemplate the very thought of systematic thinking so they are very weary of new emerging technologies, whereas the engineers are controlled by rationale and a straight forward “finding the problem and creating a solution” thinking.
Julian Dibbell’s Introduction to The Best Technology Writing 2010 dips into the argument of whether or not Technology Writing is a good development of technology for humanity. Julian Dibbell starts off her introduction by comparing famous philosophers such as Socrates, Thamus, and Theuth’s argument over the technology of written language, and how these philosophers argued if written language was detrimental or positive to humanity, and how it is basically the same argument in this day and age over technology writing. Dibbell also talks about the innate nature of humans to use tools as a mechanism for survival and evolution, and how that is tied in together with our affection towards technology. Dibbell concludes with some positive insight on blogs, and compares Socrates’s philosophy of “true knowledge” to blogs.
In Introduction the Best Technology Writing of 2009 by Steven Johnson, Johnson gave me an insight on how technology writing has changed us and how it has changed the style of writing online. He introduced me to the differences in how we read today compared to decades ago. He also brought about the topic of how new technology writing is changing the way we read and what we read. In addition, he compared the way we read today, to how we read decades ago by comparing it to rural areas as to a city.
Janet H. Murray’s Inventing the Medium portrayed a good history of how computer and technology writing came about but more importantly made me critically think about two hypothetical theories on developing technologies to improve the human condition. Humanists and Engineers are the two conflicting viewpoints that the author talks about, Humanists contemplate the very thought of systematic thinking so they are very weary of new emerging technologies, whereas the engineers are controlled by rationale and a straight forward “finding the problem and creating a solution” thinking.
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