For my Rip, Mix and Feed activity, I’ve used a widget from Apture.   I’ve just posted a few of the videos I’ve made for my Planning classes.  Apture is a great tool that is being used by newspapers to add value to their content, but it is a great tool for teachers as well.  Hope you find it useful.

When I began playing with some of the Web 2.o tools I reflected on using MIT’s Scratch programming language in a previous MET course.  I have only touched on some of Scratches’ possibilities; however, you will find a lot of support off of their home page: http://scratch.mit.edu/

Here is a small ScreenFlow video I made of this technology.

Drew

When I saw Barb Fraser’s commentary on Heroes and accompanying picture of the Trojan horse, I was reminded of my trip to Turkey last spring where the ancient city of Troy was actually located.  Here are  2 pictures of the ancient city of Troy near Cenakale, Turkey.

Well, this is not the original, but it does stand at the gates of the Ancient City of Troy.

This is what's left of Troy now. There are 9 layers that they could identify. I think the Homeric Troy was layer 5 or 6. From the top of some of the ruins, you could see a hill where Achilles would have been buried, and another nearby, where Paris would now lie.

By connecting through Web 2.0 tools and sharing information online, it is easy to create links to new people. However, even small bits of information you share may tell others (globally) more about you than you may think.

In September of this year, Evan Ratliff, reporter for Wired Magazine tried to disappear for a month. But as we leave digital footprints of our personal information, it becomes harder and harder to hide ourselves. Once information is online it is difficult, if not impossible to erase. This is why information literacy (as part of digital literacy) is such an important component of education today.

Check out the short ABC news clip: How to Disappear in the Digital Age. The story made me stop and think twice about all of our public collaborative spaces and who may run across them. In Evan Ratliff’s instance, people were encouraged to tracked him down. However I think the example shows that locating someone with an online presence can be quite easy.

Best,
Natalie

My Toondoo is on the King-Byng crisis of 1926. It was the last time the Govenor General was able to control the affairs of Canada. Prime Minster Mackenzie King wanted to dissolve parliament and call a new election due to the fact that his cabinet had done some less than reputable things. By calling an election, King was hoping he would aviod a vote of non-confidence which he was surely loose. However, when King asked to dissolve parliament the Govenor General, Lord Byng of Vimy said no due to the fact that he thought King was not owning up to his responsiblities. King, outraged, resigned on the spot which brought in the leader of the opposition, Aurthur Meighen into power. What is ironic, is that Meighen then asked Byng to dissolve parliament which Byng granted. King was able to twist the story to make it look as though Byng and Meighen had a plot to overthrow him! In the election King won by a landslide and gained a majority. This is a significant moment in Canadian history because it was the last time the Governor General was able to override the Canadian elected officials (the PM).

I had so much fun making this toondoo! I am going to use them with my classes for sure. It is a great way to represent material in a visual format. Also, I find it interesting that my cartoon conveys the same material that I wrote above. A fantasic site as well!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, Toondoo even has political figures such as Obama, Clinton etc. They even have superstars like Michael Jackson! I chose to make my own characters by uploading a picture of the real characters and then make my cartoon version based on the picture.

A great resource!

This past week the Toronto Star reported on the reinvention of libraries in the City of Toronto. Though the article does not delve into the deeper issues of knowledge organization, it illustrates how libraries have been evolving to remain relevant within their communities.

Library 2.0: Libraries are Toronto’s Living Room, Playground, Even Concert Venue, Writes Christopher Hume

Cheers,
Natalie

Hi all.  I thought I’d create a wiki where people could add reviews about their favourite reads, either books, magazine, graphic novels, maybe even web articles.  I am pretty open.

I am hoping to get this wiki operational so that I can use it in school next year as part of a reading club for grades 7-12.

Have a look and add a contribution if you like.

Rocking Reads

If you like to read in French, there is this site as well Juste pour lire.

I do admit, I love Steven Jobs!  Here is a clip about a new book on his presentation secrets.  Note that he is called a master storyteller (back to our oral roots?) and that he uses visuals (slides) to create maximum impact (the breakout of the visual?).  This seems like a perfect example of multimodal communication where our use of visuals is allowing us to return to orality.

Secrets of Steven Jobs

It’s a shame the book does not actually include interviews with Steve Jobs.  (I wonder if the book is available in an electronic format?) 🙂

Hi Everyone,

My research project is at

ETEC540/2009WT1/Assignments/ Research 

Project/SilentReadingImpactingLiteracy 

Here’s an interesting article about Google’s global library project.  It certainly makes our Bolter readings very relevant.

Click here….

Walter Ong describes writing as a means of transcending space and time; an external process which reflects the interiorization of thought. Based upon Aristotle’s plot structure, the linear pattern, arguably contrary to the natural flow of the thought process, became the accepted format for written works. As one scholar expresses “…the writing space itself has become a hierarchy of topical elements” (Bolter, 2001). While writing for a print publication demands the creation of a hierarchical format, the discipline of that structure is contrary to the creative process. One idea suggests another and writers struggle to capture the idea in a fixed format before it slips from the consciousness.  “A writer today may still begin with a jumble of verbal ideas and only a vague sense of how these ideas will fit together….he may organize by association rather than by strict subordination” (Bolter, p 33).  The traditional format of a print publication acknowledges the artificiality of the structure. The table of content s reflects the hierarchal format dependent upon a linear process while the index incorporates the associative process. One author who rebelled against the unnatural structure imposed by traditional format is Julio Cortázar. In contrast to the plot structure outlined by Aristotle, his novel Hopscotch reflects the patterns inherent in actions and thoughts; a mosaic rather than a linear process.

Hypertext, the ability to expand beyond the linear limitations of written text, enables the reader to interact with the printed word.  Two years before the term “hypertext” was used and decades before the term was commonplace, Latin American author, Julio Cortazar created what can be considered a literary hypertext in his novel, Hopscotch. A labyrinth structured novel, Hopscotch proffers an invitation to the audience to be read either in the traditional linear format or following a zigzag path. The latter format allowed the reader to deconstruct meaning of the novel based on the readers “own preoccupations, experiences, imaginings and desires…”  (Rix, 2007). The reader participates as an accomplice in the creation of the story, which will vary depending on the path the reader takes.

Contrary to the accepted conventions, the narrative resembles a montage incorporating narrative interspersed with seemingly random information bits– newspaper fragments, scraps of literary theory, definitions and commentaries. Cortázar utilized a break with traditional readership and invited the reader to intervene and get involved in the construction of the story.  Thus the interpretation of the novel, the meaning of the text, is “to be found in the reader’s response, which has been stimulated by the text” (Yovanovich, 2005).  The participation of the reader enables the personalization of the text to self interaction and demarcates the hypertext interaction.

Termed a primitive hypertext, Hopscotch incorporates one way links between the two narrations which occur in Paris and Buenos Aires and the miscellaneous chapters.  The users ability and freedom “to re-arrange, re-combine and even abandon any specific text at any time”  (Rix, 2007) demonstrates the acceptance of Hopscotch as hypertext. Much discussion has been given to the impact of Hopscotch as a “codex hypertext”.  The impact of Hopscotch as a paper hypertext would be lost if it were in electronic format. Formatted electronically, Hopscotch would appear to be linear in nature, with no anchors and no external links. The hypertext process inherent in codex Hopscotch would be rendered useless on the computer (“Hopscotch as a Hyperbook,” n.d.).

In a deliberate challenge to established cultural norms, Hopscotch seeks to “transcend the schemes and constructs of culture…”  (Alazraki, 2005).   Cortázar argued ideas and words should not be bound by the constraints of traditional codex.  Jaime Alazraki quotes Cortázar  “ ‘I’ve always found it absurd…to talk about transforming man if man doesn’t simultaneously, or previously, transform his instrument of knowledge’”  (Alazraki, 2005).

Hypertext reflects the authenticity Cortázar presents in Hopscotch, the use of associations rather than categories, the viability of the readers response and choice in determining an individual reading experience. In contrast to the linear structure expounded by Aristotle, Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch introduces the reader to a non-linear pattern of reading. Published years before the incorporation of digital technologies into daily life, Hopscotch exemplifies a “hypertextual literature”.

Works Cited

Alazraki, J. (2005). Toward the last square of Hopscotch. In H. Bloom, Julio Cortazar (pp. 2-26). Philadelphia: Chelsea House.

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing Space: Computer, Hypertext and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hopscotch as a Hyperbook. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0119.html

Rix, R. (2007). Julio Cortazar’s Rayuela nad the Challenges of Cyberliterature. In C. a. Taylor, Latin American Cyberculture and Cyberliterature (pp. 194-206). Cambridge: Liverpool University Press.

Yovanovich, G. (2005). An interpretation of Rayuela Based on the Character Web. In H. Bloom, Julio Cortazar (pp. 101-148). Philadelphia: Chelsea House.

I created a video which I will embed as soon as it finalizes. Having some technical difficulties as the program continues to freeze.

My overall goal of this project was to make an interactive website. Unfortunately, I am still trying to figure out all of the Wix programming nuances. The following link will take you to my Wix website. I plan on building on the interactivity of this page in the near future.

Wix Website

Please follow Wiki link.

http://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:ETEC540/2009WT1/Assignments/ResearchProject/TelevisionandRadio

or read here

The Influence of Television and Radio on Education

By David Berljawsky

ETEC 540

November 1, 2009

There is little question that the transition from radio to television media affected both literacy and education. As educators, television was a powerful new technology to compete with. Although in theory this evolution may have made educating easier, it also caused a ripple in the influence that educators held. This power struggle between education and technology is not new and it continues to this very day. The programming found in television and radio was reflective of the times. How did the change from an aural based media to a visual based media affect education, literacy and social change? Imagination was no longer the driving force in produced media, and this created a culture where instant gratification and visual stimulation became the norm. In this paper I will explore the cultural and social differences between television and radio, the developing power struggle between teachers and television technology and the increasing influence of television compared to radio on young learners.

The age of television has led to a decline in the amount of time and effort that younger students devote to reading and literacy based activities. “Typically, television tended to displace other entertainment activities, including radio, movies, and comic books reading for school-age children (Neuman, 1991, p.21).”  It is uncertain that there is a strong correlation between literacy rates and television due to a few factors. There is an increase in television shows over the years that do promote literacy such as Sesame Street. Some children’s television programming does have high educational standards. As well, due to urbanization, there are also a higher percentage of students who are able to attend schools and receive a proper education in today’s day and age. The percentage of children in elementary schools in BC increased from 87 percent in 1930 to 92.5 percent in 1962 (Statistics Canada, 2009). Educators became more experienced as well, with the teacher qualification standards increasing. In 1952 22% of teachers had a university degree compared to 57% in 1973 (Statistics Canada, 2009).

A Lack of Imagination

When listening to radio one needed to be able to imagine programming without the aid of visuals. This created a world where visual imagery was seen as something more sacred. People were unable to view things that we take for granted today. There was an optimism and innocence associated with radio. Without visuals, it was imagination based and its entertainment value lay largely with the mind of the listener. “They miss what now seems like the simplicity of those times, the innocent optimism (even during the Depression and the War), the directness of the medium itself. But what they yearn for most is the way that radio invited them to participate actively in the production of the show at hand (Douglas, 1985, p4).”

There is an interactive element of radio that we seem to take for granted today. With television we are given everything, both visually and aurally. Very little is left to the imagination with this media, unless the programming directs us to think this way. We expect to be entertained at all times. According to Neuman “…television has fundamentally shifted basic societal values, from those which had previously been characterized by the willingness to defer gratification, to a new set of attitudes where the present is amplified all out of proportion (Neuman, 1991, p.92).” This greatly affects teaching practices. It is difficult to compete with hyper visual imagery and a sense of instant gratification.  Some educational subjects are difficult to make entertaining, which affects the interest of the student.

Social Impacts of the Change

Television and visual media helped to develop the beliefs and values of our culture. Media programming is produced as a response to society’s values and norms. “In their view, children around the age of six lose interest in quality educational programs when they enter the school system; the only way to bypass children’s resentment of instructional content is to focus on social aspects of the programs (Lemish, 2007, p.199).” This makes educating students more difficult because of the type of television programming they start to watch as they enter schooling age.  In the radio days, specifically in the 1930-50’s the types of programming that were popular were reflective of the times as well. Shows such as westerns, dramas and mysteries were commonplace. The content was light, especially compared to today’s standards and was reflective of the culture.

Radio’s cultural influence was very strong, without the constant bombardment of visuals and advertising the power that these spoken words held were stronger than ever. There was no competition with television or other media forms. Much like television, and other forms of entertainment it represented the views and values of the era.  In a sense, radio broadcasting (or narrating) was similar in some regards to oral cultures, where the word held much power. “Moreover, skilled oral narrators deliberately vary their traditional narratives because part of their skill is their ability to adjust to new audiences and new situations or simply to be coquettish (Ong, 1982, p.48).”

The transition from a radio based world to a television based world affected social interactions in school age children. It had a very strong effect at the onset of the television age. Many initial studies in the early 1950’s have been seen as biased, because of the lack of regular households with televisions. They were initially seen as a status symbol and were not found in abundance, thus results were skewered accordingly. The first respected major studies occurred in 1958 and 1961 in Britain, USA and Canada. These results all had very similar outcomes. The activities that were the most affected by the introduction of television were “the use of other media, including radio listening, cinema attendance… and to some extent, play time with other children (Neuman, 1991, p.29).”

Television and Education

Televisions has influenced education and teaching practices. Educators have had to adapt and provide lessons that not only educate but entertain the learner. It has been shown that attention spans have decreased since the prominence of television. Reading is not seen in the same esteem as in previous generations. “Reading was not regarded as an elitist activity, and printed matter was spread evenly among all kinds of people (Postman, 1985, p.34).” This is not a new phenomenon. Whenever a new technology is introduced there is often a change in educational philosophy to adapt to the cultural shift. We have seen it more recently with modern internet technologies. After all “The medium is the message (McLuhan as cited in Postman, 1992, p14).”

How can teachers compete with educational and regular television? “In contrast, commercial television stations disavow having any educational responsibilities. Above all else, “their raison d’etre” is to make a profit by attracting as wide an audience as possible in order to sell advertisers products (Lemish, 2007, p.148).” This affects society in many different ways. The influence of advertising is amplified. If the television production companies only care about profit (attracting sponsors) than they will likely create programs that appeal to these advertisers regardless of educational value. This will only make teachers jobs more difficult. The influence of television on children is huge, if they are watching shows designed simply to entertain and maximize profit, then this will have negative effects on reading and writing. Educational value will be ignored.  It is frightening to imagine this, especially in relation to the school systems influence.  “A great media metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense (Postman, 1985, p.16).”

How has writing evolved from the age of radio to television? “Children come to school having been deeply conditioned by the biases of television. There they encounter the printed word (Postman, 1985, p.16).” Children are raised in the TV generation watching visual entertainment before learning to read and write in most cases. This makes teaching writing harder than before due to students having a different focus than before.  There is ample evidence to prove that television has affected student focus and made reading and writing seem less important. “Children of television will come to expect all of life to be entertaining; learning will be displaced in favour of the ready-made… this demand for entertainment will eventually lead children to be less enterprising and resourceful (Neuman, 1991, p.92).”

The impact that television has had on education is dramatic. It has helped to change the dynamics found between teachers and students. Children are being raised with the television turned on for a large portion of their lives. They enter school acclimatised to the views and beliefs that are found on television. Attention spans have been adjusted accordingly and this negatively affects the quality and type of education that is transmitted to the student. This is going to change. Technology is constantly in a state of evolution and the television movement is only a part of that evolution. Of course, with the upcoming generation engaged in hypertext and its issues, we may end up looking back nostalgically at the good old days of television.

References

Lemish, Dafna. (2007) Children and Television: A Global Perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Neuman, Susan. (1991) Literacy in the Digital Age. Norwood, New Jersey. Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Ong, Walter. (1982.) Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.

Postman, Neil (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. USA: Penguin.

Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books.

Douglas, Susan. Listening in: Radio and the American Imagination. Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, 2004.

“Elementary and Secondary Schools.” Statistics Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/af-fdr.cgi?l=eng&loc=W67_93a-eng.csv, Oct, 2009.

Hello all

Please take a few minutes to explore our Google Website on Pen and Paper.

Enjoy!
Ed Stuerle & Bruce Spencer

Theatre scripts and plays have had an important role since ancient history. This influence has continued throughout modern history, especially the way in which they have combined orality and literacy and adapted to or incorporated each new technology as it has appeared. Ong mentions several times the importance of theatre and drama, which, since the Greeks, “was composed as a written text and in the west was the first verbal genre, and for centuries was the only verbal genre to be controlled completely by writing” (2002, p.139). Hornbrook also mentions that “Although theatrical events have been a part of human culture since antiquity, prior to the twentieth century, drama was confined to sporadic and occasional bacchanals, festivals, rituals, celebrations and theatre performances,” (1998, p.151) whereas, Cimolino assures us that, “Theatre is one of the surest signs of democracy. Its roots are to be found not in despotism, but rather in ancient democratic Greece, which created the debating forum in order to engender lively thought among a free people” (2006).
I believe that while literature has been revered for the impact which it has on academic minds, it is the play and theatre which have the ability to reach out to all of us. Worthen explains “Our understanding of language and knowledge have been forever altered by the impact of print; yet the Western stage remains an important sight for the transformation of writing into the embodied discourses of action, movement and speech” (2003, p.2). Literature is for the elite, whereas plays and theatre have always been for the common man. A play can be dissected by intellectuals, but once it is performed it “is an important device for communities to collectively share stories, to participate in political dialogue, and to break down the increasing exclusion of marginalized groups” (Van Erven. 2000, p.2)
In academic research there is a distinction made between drama in which a play can be analysed in a similar way to literature and theatre, which is considered to be a non academic pursuit. Fortier states that “despite the assimilation of drama into literary studies and despite the attempt to see theatre as non-verbal literature, literary theory ignores those who have made the most profound contributions to a specific theory of theatre: drama and theatre belong to literary theory but theatre theorists do not.” (1997, p.4). In many universities this distinction is made, as it is considered that an academic study of a play in drama can be graded quantitatively, whereas a theatre production can only be graded qualitatively. A possible reason for academics to view theatre as a lesser art is given to us by Ong when he explains that “Analytic explicatory thought has grown out of oral wisdom only gradually, and perhaps is still divesting itself of oral residue” (2002, p.169). In practical terms a student who decides to study drama in an English university is required to study the same number of theoretical hours as a literature student, plus an equal number of practical hours, not counting rehearsals and performances, in order to receive the same number of credits. Another explanation for this discrimination between oral performance and the written script could be that academic life has been gradually setting itself apart from the common people. Van Erven explains that “Community theatre is an important device for communities to collectively share stories, to participate in political dialogue, and to break down the increasing exclusion of marginalized groups.”(2000, p.2)
Hornbrook relates that there have been four major changes in the way that we communicate: spoken language, written language, the printed book and finally electronic forms of communication. He also explains that the “Examination of the contrasts between oral, manuscript, literate, and finally, electronic cultures can generate insights into the biases and proclivities of a culture dominated by one form of communication or another. Interestingly, these moments of transition coincide with pre-eminent periods in theatre history” (1998, p.152). He agrees with Ong that the written script or play has existed since the Greeks, became prolific from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, became a weapon for social change in the twentieth century challenging the social norms of this period and finally its role may well be changing as “Antithetically, naturalistic drama, in the theatre and on television, denies inventive experience to its spectators, ensuring that they are further silenced in an age in which participation and active engagement are not easily come by” (1998, p160).
Rush explains that in the past theatre began as a celebration of public events in which most of the populace took part. Political, religious and cultural aspects were all incorporated into performances and unlike modern audiences the spectators did not “perceive a great difference between participating in a ritual where issues of belief are paramount, and attending a theatrical performance where suspension of disbelief is at issue.”(1994, p.3) The main ontological difference appears to have been the way in which the actors performed. Cimolino proclaims “Shakespeare’s work is eternal, universal … It tells stories of people like you and me — in our diversity, across time and origin and experience, we share a common humanity. And Shakespeare’s genius was that he seemed to predict the challenges that future societies would face.”(2006). Cartwight tells us that “English drama at the beginning of the sixteenth century was allegorical, didactic, and moralistic; but by the end of the century theatre was censured as emotional and even immoral.” (1999, p.3) Censure has always existed, but the written play has confronted many taboos both in print and in performance. Ibsen was one of the most controversial, modern playwrights. Tans tells us that “A Doll’s House, which many consider the first true feminist play, was banned in England for a time. Despite resistance to his work, Ibsen continued to raise awareness for women’s rights” (2007, p.93) It was not until well into the twentieth century that Ibsen’s plays were accepted and yet he had a profound influence on other playwrights as Tans mentions “Ibsen found support among his artistic peers, such as the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), who was influenced by Ibsen’s example to examine social concerns in his own work.”(2007, p.93) Ibsen is an example of how plays, allow us to step out of ourselves and to look at life from someone else’s point of view. Literature tends to be a solitary activity, whereas plays and their public performances allow a playwright’s message to have a much more direct impact on society.
Modern playwrights such as Willy Russell tackle universal social issues such as class stigma. His most famous play Educating Rita started out as a working script which he read to drama students at his ex college in Liverpool to get their feedback. Willy Russell then honed his work and it was then performed at a local theatre where it met with great success as it related so well to local social issues. However, the play was so successful that it gained national attention, from there it caught the attention of the film industry and finally it ended up as an international film. This example shows the power of a play not to be original, (Pygmalion has almost the same plot) but to be in touch with fundamental human issues which have existed and will continue to exist across generations. His plays are written for the everyman instead of the academic elite.
In recent years many education authorities have cut their budgets for the arts in schools. As these subjects are considered less academic it has been felt that children and their education will not be seriously affected. However, there are studies which show that the opposite is true. Catterall in the book “Critical Links” edited by Deasy comments on the work of Goodman and tells us that “dramatic play is a vehicle whereby children can both practice and learn about literary skills and begin to develop “storying skills” which might be used in story writing” (2002, p.37)
Hornbrook warns us that “Now, most of us witness, via television, what would have amounted to several lifetimes of drama for previous generations.”(1998, p.151) This may be true and the play may change its appearance, but I believe it is unlikely that it will disappear. Prenki and Selman explain that “Theatre can say the unsayable. This capacity is perhaps its most central asset. Whether at the individual, group, or public level, theatre gives us ways to express: our dilemmas; our political views, whether conservative or radical; our insights, however tentative; our problems, shortcomings, fears, intentions, complaints, angers, commitments.” (2000, p.101) Theatre, drama and the written play have always been an important part of our lives. They have lived in a constant flux of change and will continue to do so in the future. The recent advances in technology will assure that there will be major upheavals in the way that plays will be written and performed. Oddey and White state that, “it will be shown that the central characteristics of the mediated stage lie in the conceptualization and design of the coalescence between actuality and virtuality, between materiality and immateriality and between physicality and virtuality.” (2006, p.157). Yomiuri (2008) gives us a concrete example of what can be expected in the future in his write up in the “The Yomiuri Shimbun” of how “Robotic technology will enter unfamiliar territory Tuesday when two humanoid robots make their stage acting debut alongside human performers in a play at Osaka University.”

References
Cartwright, K. (1999) Theatre and Humanism: English Drama in the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. New York, USA. Retrieved the 10th of October 2009 from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10064309&ppg=3

Cimolino, A. (July 4, 2006). Theatre defines us.(Comment)(Column). Globe & Mail (Toronto, Canada), A15. Retrieved October 17th, 2009, from Global Issues In Context via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/gic/start.do?prodId=GIC

Deasy, R. Editor (2002) Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development. Retrieved October 21st, 2009 from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/29/d0/52.pdf

Fortier, M. (1997) Theatre Theory:An Introduction. Routledge London, England. Retrieved the 7th of October 2009 from:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10057267&ppg=12

Hornbrook, D. (Editor). (1998) On the Subject of Drama. Routledge
London, England. Retrieved the 14th of October 2009 from:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10070831&ppg=164

Oddey, A. and White, C. Editors. ( 2006) Potentials of Spaces : The Theory and Practice of Scenography and Performance. Intellect Books. Bristol, England. Retrieved October 29th, 2009, from Global Issues In Context via Gale: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10158462&ppg=158

Ong,W. (1982) Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Methuen. London, England.

Prenki.T. and Selman.J. Editors. ( 2000) Popular Theatre in Political Culture. Intellect Books. Bristol, England. Retrieved October 29th, 2009, from Global Issues In Context via Gale: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10019962&ppg=135

Rush. R. (1994) Greek Tragic Theatre. Routledge. Florence, USA . Retrieved the 7th of October, 2009 from:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10100177&ppg=14

Tran, L. (2007). Art, Drama/Performance. In F. Malti-Douglas (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Culture Society History, Vol. 1(pp. 92-96). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved October 17, 2009, from Global Issues In Context via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/gic/start.do?prodId=GIC

Van Erven, E. 2000. Community Theatre : Global Perspectives. Routledge
London. England. Retrieved the 27th of September 2009 from:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/Doc?id=10053887&ppg=2

Worthen. W. 2003. Shakespeare and the Force of Modern Performance. Cambridge University Press. New York. USA. Retrieved the 27th of September 2009 from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/urse/docDetail.action?docID=10063475&p00=theatre%20%20literacy

Yomiuri. S. (2008) “Robot actors to make stage debut in Japanese play.” Global Issues In Context. Gale.Tokyo, Japan. Retrieved October 29th, 2009, from Global Issues In Context via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/gic/start.do?prodId=GIC

I stumbled across the proceeding new technologies as I was researching my final project.  While both the implanted touch-screen and electronic ink may bring up images of shocking encounters, I believe the possible applications of these two technologies outweigh their initial reactions.

Could implanted touch-screens be used to help the disabled interact with their environment?  Will body art of the future not only be a symbolic representation of one’s cultural values but literally link them to like-minded individuals on a global scale?  Will both these technologies become a remediation of the physical computer itself i.e., one that is outside of and/or detached from the human body?

Electronic tattoo display runs on blood

February 21st, 2008 by Lisa Zyga

The tattoo display: “Waterproof and powered by pizza.”

Jim Mielke’s wireless blood-fueled display is a true merging of technology and body art. At the recent Greener Gadgets Design Competition, the engineer demonstrated a subcutaneously implanted touch-screen that operates as a cell phone display, with the potential for 3G video calls that are visible just underneath the skin…

Electronic, interactive tattoos

Thu, Jul 2, 2009

Been thinking about tattoos lately. And although this image is not a tattoo I find it really lovely. Especially the lace one….

Here’s the you tube video!

It’s Bare — a conductive ink for skin. A collaboration between Bibi Nelson, Isabel Lizardi, Matt Johnson, and Becky Pilditch.

When I think about standardization of language, my first thought is to refer to the dictionary. Sam Winston, a UK artist, has done some neat pieces that use dictionaries as a springboard for playing with language and text. What I like about this project is that the artist’s intent is to make art accessible – which in the context of this course relates back to the press as means to make literature accessible to the masses. Here is short video clip of the project Dictionary Story.

In the video clip, Winston mentions James Gleick’s article for the New York Times, Cyber-Neologoliferation as a source of inspiration. As this course has fueled my interest in language and technology, I decided to search this article out.

Before reading the article I did not have a clue what ‘neologoliferation’ meant. What I learned is that neologism refers to “a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language (Wikipedia, Neologism, para. 1). This word seems completely appropriate to use in the context of the Oxford English Dictionary and their pursuit to capture “a perfect record, perfect repository, perfect[ly] mirror of the entire [English] language (Gleick, 2006, para. 5).

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has a long history, dating back about a century and half, and has played an essential role in standardizing the English language. In his article, Gleick explores the workings of the dictionary today and how the online environment is changing the evolution of language. The OED has evolved its immense printed resource of 20 volumes in its second edition to a 3rd edition that now resides completely online. The Internet has not only been a vehicle that houses the dictionary but a tool that allows lexicographers to eavesdrop on the “expanding cloud of messaging in speech” that occurs in resources such as newspapers, online news groups and chat rooms (para. 2).

With these tactics for tapping into culture, the dictionary has moved from being a ‘dictionary of written of language’, where lexicographers comb through works of Shakespeare to find words, to one where ‘spoken language’ is the resource (para.12). Surprisingly, text messaging also serves as a source for new vocabulary. Beyond OED’s hunting and gathering processes, the general public can also connect with them to have a new word assessed for inclusion into the dictionary. The ‘living document’ of the dictionary now seems to require of the participation of the masses. With this, more and more colloquial language is being added to the dictionary (e.g. bada-bing).

The printing press worked to standardized spelling but according to Gleick (2006) with mass communication spelling variation is on the rise. With the Internet, OED is coming to terms with the boundlessness of language. In the past variations of the English language were spoken in many different pockets around the world. These variations still exist but now are more accessible through the Internet (Gleick, 2006). Peter Gilliver, a lexicographer at OED believes that the Internet transmits information differently than past vehicles for communication. He suggests that the ability to broadcast to the masses or communicate one-to-one is impacting the change in language. For OED, the ability to tap into a wide variety of online conversations affords a more accurate representation of word usage all over the world.

Standards in language help us to clearly communicate in a way that is commonly understood. This article makes me wonder, with all the slang being added to the dictionary, what will language look like in 50 years? 100 years? Will a new English language evolve? How will this affect spoken and written language? Will standards become more lax? With all these questions, OED becomes an important historical documentation of the evolution of the English language.

References

Gleick, J. (2006, November 5). Cyber-neologoliferation. New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/magazine/05cyber.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1255864379-QjA08nvBb8FH9FU9ZHJbRg

Neologism. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism

Thanks, Sarah