Bolter on Text

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Kenton Hemsing

“What unity there is in an electronic text derives from the perpetually shifting       relationship among its verbal elements. What unity there is in the audience for that text comes from the momentary constellation of different economic and cultural “special interests.”” (Bolter, 2001, p.12)

To me this quote highlights the co-dependence between text and verbal communication. The comment about the shift in relationship seems to indicate that there is change and fluidity in text so that it is able to represent the verbal communication among people in society. This leads to the conclusion that with the acceptance of digital text as the most common form of text communication, its fluidity and ease of change will best be able to represent and respond to the changes in verbal communication. This may have the added effect of connecting individuals with others who are seeking communication with like minded peers.

References:

Bolter, J.D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. New York, NY: Routledge.

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Technology: Good…and bad.

Posted on September 15, 2012 by troos

When thinking of why humans produce new technologies, the reason is to make some aspect of human life easier.  This may be done through selfish ambition, in which case the technology is corrupt right from the start.  But most technologies have the initial purpose of helping humans survive and thrive on earth.  But as Postman suggested in Technopoly, it seems that no matter how good the purpose of the technology, there are always some bad consequences that need to be weighed against the good.  Sometimes it takes significant amounts of time before the unintended consequences are viewed as significant enough to eliminate the technology.  Again, as Postman suggests, as long as those who the technology benefits are in “power”, it tends to be accepted and promoted regardless of consequences.  I feel the following picture with the quote from Einstein summarizes Postman’s feelings quite well.

 

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

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Cecilia Sun – Outdated textbooks

Posted on September 15, 2012 by ceciliaysun

Library
The start of a new school year and the debate over the textbook situation continues. Do we buy e-books? Where will we find the money to replace old and outdated books? Textbooks are given much value in the classroom. It is an indispensable learning resource. Where do we see textbook in the classroom of the future? Do they have a place there? We feel the shift coming as printed text becomes less relevant. Will textbooks become obsolete soon?

I teach high school math/science. This is my fourth course in the program. I look forward to the coming term and sharing ideas with everyone.

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The Power of Technology

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Kenton Hemsing

In his inaugural address in 1961, John F. Kennedy remarked:

“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”

To me this quote symbolizes a great revelation in the human concept of what the true power of technology is. It highlights both the good and the bad side of technology and man’s relationship with it. I feel that realizing the potential to harm with technology is as important as realizing the potential to do good with technology. Technology is not only about fascinating devices that make work easier, communication faster or production more efficient. Technology holds with it a power that must be realized by those that control it, this power and ability of technology must be respected by us as a race in order to ensure we continue to thrive as a society.

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Technology and Truth

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Christie Robertson

“It is not always clear, at least in the early stages of a technology’s intrusion into a culture, who will gain most by it and who will lose most…new technologies change what we mean by “knowing” and “truth”; they alter those deeply embedded habits of thought which give to a culture its sense of what the world is like—a sense of what is the natural order of things” (Postman, 1992, p12)

Postman’s comment on technology’s ability to change what we mean by truth stood out for me.  There is often talk of a generational gap when it comes to technology.  The older generation is pining for the good ‘ol days while the youth are grasping for the new frontiers of the future, neither really understanding the other.  And maybe this is why.  The truths of one generation are not the truths of another and technology plays a role in it.

References:

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

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Text and Mashups

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Christie Robertson

“’Text’, from a root meaning ‘to weave’, is, in absolute terms, more compatible etymologically with oral utterance than is ‘literature’, which refers to letters entymologically/(literae) of the alphabet. Oral discourse has commonly been thought of even in oral milieus as weaving or stitching—rhapsodien, to rhapsodize, basically means in Greek ‘to stitch songs together’. But in fact, when literates today use the term ‘text’ to refer to oral performances, they are thinking of it by analogy with writing (Ong, 1988, p13)

This quote makes me think of what may become one modern day definition of text: mashups. While called by different names in the past, mashups are simply the weaving together of different media to make a new creation. This has been common in music throughout the ages and called “arrangements.” For example, check out Jack Gibbons arrangement of George Gershwin hits:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9ghHKHcmw [/youtube]

Today mashups have become more than just arrangements. They create something completely new from previously crafted arts. For example, the CBC’s Paolo Pietrapaolo’s Signature Series takes the popular songs in a certain key to create and describe characters. Essentially he “writes” about the character using a blend of music and oral storytelling. If D Minor was a person who would she be? Go ahead and find out: D Minor- The Ice Queen

References:

Ong, W.J. (1988). Orality and Literacy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Pietrapaolo, P. (2012, Sept 5). D minor: The ice queen. Podcast retrieved from http://music.cbc.ca/#/The-Signature-Series/blogs/2012/9/The-Signature-Series-on-CBC-Music
madloveba3. (2011, July 30). Gershwin-Rhapsody in blue genius solo piano arrangement by jack gibbons. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9ghHKHcmw

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Is Technology Making Us Lazy?

Posted on September 15, 2012 by tavenia

Dictionary.com defines technology as:

the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment … [as] the terminology of an art, science, etc. … a technological process, invention, method, or the like. [Technology is] the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilization. (technology, n.d.).

Technology thus assists, defines, and has changed how we communicate, learn, create, amaze, entertain, and live.

Has technology made us lazy?

The below poem, Television by Roald Dahl, argues just that. I suppose like anything else in life, we must use technology (and all that is produces) responsibly.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muWCZz8jt1I[/youtube]

References:
OverlookAcademy. (2011, Jun. 30). [Video]. Television – Roald Dahl.  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muWCZz8jt1I

Technology. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com online. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/technology?s=t

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The Text we Hold with Technology

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Nicola Einarson

A physical representation of an organized gigabyte.

While the means and methods for storage of data become smaller and smaller, the cumulative amount of saved and accumulated text will only increase. Used in its broadest sense, text comprises an almost inconceivably staggering collection of materials. In 2012, I attended a research conference at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, and had a hard time comprehending that library’s holdings (over 147 million items), and of course, that is only a subset mankind’s cumulative total of written works and images.

A few messy megabytes.

Think of the implications of the inclusion of digital data, mixed with smaller physical size and larger storage capacity. No longer does a text need immediate relevancy to be stored or saved. Digital formats afford the opportunity to save and accumulate not only polished works and chosen images, in fact, it is often more difficult to make the choice to delete a digital file than it is to just save everything, backed up on increasingly powerful and small storage devices.

But with this power to save and store, comes the potential for chaos: even if the digital organization is a horrendous mess, it is “out of sight,” and involves no sensory interaction. In its physical form, a few MB worth of documents can quickly escalate out of control. These same documents held via a data storage device represent a very different physical manifestation. But as we continue to digitize our texts to store them for the long term – with some texts never making it to physical form at all – will we progressively lose our panache for all of the sensory delights that physical texts can provide?

Potentially thousands of pages of documents, in one neat little package.

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The Technology to Accumulate Text

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Nicola Einarson

Reflecting on the meanings behind “text” and “technology,” I wanted to explore the seemingly inverse relationship between the progressively large cumulative total of text that has been created and is being saved and stored, and the increasing ease and indiscretion with which we store our text.

I took this photo as a personal reflection on Moore’s Law, which was described in his 1965 paper  Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Moore observed that the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubled approximately every two years. Related to Moore’s Law is Mark Kryder’s (2005) observation that hard drives are shrinking at a much faster pace than the doubling transistor count. The slowly shrinking physical size and radically expanding storage capacities evidenced in this picture serve to illustrate the work of these two researchers.

Please visit this photo on flickr to view my recollections and experiences with each type of storage, and I invite you to add your own notes sharing your memories as well.

 

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Our Incessant Appetite

Posted on September 15, 2012 by tavenia

Dictionary.com defines text as “the main body of matter in a manuscript, book, newspaper,etc., as … the original words of an author or speaker, [and] as … the actual wording of anything written or printed” (text, n.d.).

In searching for a visual representation of “text” I stumbled upon a historical documentary entitled, 17 Days: The Story of Newspaper History in the Making. After contemplating the power of text you may agree with the newscasters that “no other medium can take the place of [text] in the hearts and minds of the people” (BugglesClassics, 2011).

Thoughts?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBS2E1MGVxQ[/youtube]

References

BugglesClassics. (2011, Nov. 30). [Video]. 17 Days: The Story of History in the Making (1945). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBS2E1MGVxQ

Text. (n.d.) In Dictionary.com online. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/text?s=t

 

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