Link 1: Tyler Graham’s Mode Bending Assignment:
I decided to look at Tyler’s song because he chose to do things similarly to how I did for this assignment. Interestingly, we came to the same idea even though the contents of our bag were so dissimilar. His bag was full of books and a laptop, while mine was a bunch of woodcutting tools. I’d be interested to know how he produced his song. It sounds like there are digital drums (similar to the tune I posted). His style is very different than mine. More of an alternative rock sound, whereas my song has more of a blues feel to it.
I also don’t know if I was right to provide all the background context of how I recorded my song. When I look at Tyler’s site he simply wrote the lyrics and put the song. I think perhaps my emphasis on the recording process was different than his.
In terms of theoretical underpinnings, Tyler (and my) assignment are both examples of multiple literacies, as outlined by Mabrito and Medley (2008). I think it’s great that we had the opportunity to approach the same artistic task that utilized a different medium. This is an excellent task to allow students to shine at what they are really good at!
Mabrito, M. & Medley, R. (2008). Why professor johnny can’t read: Understanding the net generation’s texts (Links to an external site.). Innovate: Journal of Online Education: Vol. 4:6, Article 2.
Link 2: Tamara Vaughan’s Potato Printing Assignment.
I liked Tamara’s reflection on how frustrating she found the process of cutting the potato by hand. I found this to be very difficult personally. My hands aren’t really dextrous with a knife, and I decided against doing it again after I realized that I had done the letters backwards. I also like that she was able to do this activity with her kids. I think that I would have found this part of the task to be more interesting if it had been done with one of my nieces!
I decided to do both parts of this task myself, and think that I gained more insight into this task this way. An extension of this task that might provide fruitful discussion would be to compare the effectiveness of more forms of written communication.
I wanted to connect this task to the picture provided in Module 4.2 (duplicated below)
“The method of printing books during the Renaissance period”. Image from Myers, Philip Van Ness Medieval and Modern History (Boston, MA: Ginn & Company, 1905). Source: ClipArt ETC (Links to an external site.).
I think that the potato stamp really made me think of how important words must have been when it was more difficult to create them. Looking at this picture, you can see a busy print shop. How arduous it must have been to try and communicate to a large audience using this method. Contrast this with the way in which a Tweet can reach hundreds of millions of people instantaneously with nothing more than a few finger taps on a screen!
I actually connect this to a personal experience as well. My parents ran a community newspaper that would arrive to the house disassembled. My siblings and I were responsible for collating, stapling and distributing the newspaper. I remember seeing my mom designing and laying out the newspaper using a light table and a hobby knife. Compare this to the digital way of producing media!
Link 3: Kristin Garrat’s Task 3
Kristin had an interesting story about her farm that I really connected with. This spring I embarked on my first attempt at raising chickens. At the time of this writing, I have 6 of the original 11 still alive!
I often reflect on how much the advent of written communication fundamentally changes language and linguistics. With the development of audio and video recording technology, as well as speech to text software, it seems that things have come full circle.
The bible and Homer’s catalogue of ships from the Iliad both provide written documentation of attempts to preserve oral culture and narrative. I think that the obvious and somewhat hilarious errors associated with voice-to-text software illustrates that there is always something lost in translation. I think that as language and culture evolve the original intent of narratives can be lost.
